Half Breed: Revised
by Emilou1985
Summary: A rewrite of a previous RR's FF. A scientist from Shepherd's past has made a breakthrough that Parvo is interested in. The main trouble is that all the Road Rovers are unavailable except for Hunter, who goes solo on the mission.
1. Chapter 1: Running Alone

Half-Breed

Chapter 1: Running Alone

By Emilou AKA Hatashi Kitty

Professor Shepherd sat at his console with a stern look on his face. He had been facing a quandary ever since the Road Rovers had returned from their last mission a few weeks ago. It wasn't the mission itself or the fact that they had been captured by Parvo. It was their leader that was the focus of his puzzlement.

Rather than just stew in his own thoughts, Shepherd unrolled the wire from his microphone and prepared his recording equipment. He kept spare, empty cassettes on hand for dictating inventive ideas or anything else scientific that came to his mind.

But recently, most of these recordings were about his creations, the Road Rovers. The progress and development of their powers were amazing. It took a few years, but they were united under one idea to stop Parvo. But what else were they developing?

Shepherd organized his thoughts, and then turned on the recorder.

"August 20, 1999. Once again, I will not disclose the location of my head quarters or the identity of subjects A thru E in case these recordings fall into enemy hands.

"All subjects are healthy, and, once again, have thwarted another of my enemy's plans; this one was to destroy my creations, thereby paving a way to world domination. Lucky for us all, subject E wasn't captured and was able to arrive in time to save his fellow cano-sapiens.

"I have noticed little differences in most of their habits. There have been a few scuffles in the pecking order (as I suspect there would be), but there have been no change in the chain of command. Subject D seems to have calmed down a bit, and his relationships with Subject B and Subject A has improved, although I cannot guess to say they are friends.

"Subject C still hasn't shown any change to his mutation. I had hoped that he would at least become more vocal in English, but it seems that his DNA had partially rejected my machine. He will probably be that way for the rest of his life, unless I'm willing to increase the power to my transdogmafier. But I'm afraid that it could damage his DNA beyond repair.

"No other cano-sapiens seem to have rejected the change. Our number has increased to 83, all stationed throughout the world to keep watch for anything that would endanger the world. Their diligence and loyalty to humanity may be our only salvation."

Shepherd lowered the mike a bit as he swallowed and worked his tongue to help his dry mouth. Once again, he had to gather the words he would say for the recording. He was nervous about what he was going to say, but reassured himself that it was unlikely that anyone would hear his notes

"For the first time since creating the team of Road Rovers, I have had thoughts that what I have done is wrong. I changed innocent creatures into something they weren't meant to be. I played God not once, but several times in my war against General Parvo. I justified my actions in the hope that the end would mean Parvo would be brought to justice. But was I right to do so?

"Recently Subject E has been acting very strangely. He's been demonstrating characteristics that aren't exactly canine. The incident being that he abandoned his mission to look for his biological mother. The fact that he deviated from the mission is enough to cause worry, but looking for one of his parents is definitely not a canine trait.

"To add to this, Subject B confided in me that she had persuaded Subject E to continue his search during the mission. I am convinced that she had done so not because Subject E is the leader, but out of feelings for him.

"The more I see the subjects interact with each other, the more I am convinced that the constant use of the transdogmafier is making their minds more and more human. I am unsure how many of the subjects are affected similarly as B and E. I will need to observe them further in their lives.

"I believe the cause of this is because all the subjects have been in their changed form for far too long, and their DNA is evolving them into a whole new species. The more often they are in their morphed form, the more they evolve. I have developed a fear that they will question their origins, and become unhappy with their situation. I also believe that eventually their DNA will evolve to a point where they no longer can turn back to their true canine forms and will resent me for that. I shudder to think the damage I have done to them when they will no longer be allowed to return to their peaceful and innocent lives. I hope they can all forgive me for this evil I have done to them. Being human isn't easy, which they might find out sooner or later.

"My only hope is that my enemies will soon be apprehended, and the subjects can return to a normal life of peace. I am currently working on a way to keep the subjects' DNA from evolving any further and locking them into an unnatural life."

Shepherd switched his recording device off and smoothed his forehead with his palm. He could feel new lines on his face, which were an after-effect of so much stress in his life. Most of his worries were centered on Parvo and his horrible mission of taking over the world. But with this new bit of information about his Road Rovers, he was seriously considering if his actions were ethical. Was it right of him to take all those dogs and change them? What's even more, was it ethical to make it so they couldn't stay transformed? What did the Road Rovers want? Did they want to remain dogs, stay by the sides of their masters and never think further than their own food bowl? Or was it cruel of him to give them a taste of this new world of human speech and super powers only to take it away from them again?

With a heavy sigh, Shepherd turned to the blue prints he was working on. One was an upgraded form of his transdogmafier, but there were so many red marks that the shape of the machine was distorted. Next to it was a smaller blueprint, showing a much, much smaller transdogmafier. But the latter blueprint was pushed aside in favor of the more complex plan.

* * *

A faint buzzing woke up the sleepy dog from his snore-wracked dreams. His ears flopped around as if a flea was irritating him. After a while, he lifted his head up and took a look at his territory. The sprinkler system had just started its cycle to water the grass. The wind was blowing gently through the trees. The sky had a few clouds covering up the stars, but there was no scent of rain. And the secret service was covertly moving through the foliage and whispering codes in their radios.

Yep, everything seemed normal.

Hunter scratched at his collar until he felt better, turned around once and laid back down to sleep again.

"Hunter."

The faint buzzing was back, but this time it was whispering his name. He leaped up, alert, and looked around for whoever it was.

"Hunter, wake up."

Hunter finally recognized the voice. The Master was calling him through his collar transmitter. Hunter panted and wagged his tail happily. It almost sounded like The Master was right next to him, and his doggy senses kicked in. It had been like this since The Master had stopped using the omnipresent howl. He had to update his technology since the FBI had the technology to listen in. The best solution was the one-way transmitter in his red collar.

"Hunter, if you can hear me, return to HQ right away. There is a situation."

The golden retriever didn't even hesitate or wonder what the President would think if he found his dog missing. His loyalty was to The Master, and he heeded his call before others. Hunter backed up into his dog house, and slipped down into the trap door that held the high speed vehicle that would transport him to The Master.

In less than an hour, Hunter was in Road Rover HQ and completely trans-mutated into "Super Hero Mode". He stretched a bit, adjusting quickly to having clothes and thumbs again. He could never get over how cool it was to be in this form. Even thinking was different, as if there was more space to move subjects around. It was also easier to focus on the subject at hand and not get distracted by moving objects.

"Here, Master. Reporting for duty," Hunter said with a salute once he had seen that The Master was waiting for him at the entrance.  
"Thank you for answering the call. I have a very important mission for you, Hunter," The Master said with lips pursed in a thin line; it was a bad sign.

Hunter perked his ears up, but he couldn't hear any of his fellow Road Rovers nearby. "Where are the others, Master?"

The Master turned around, his hands behind his back. "I'm afraid you'll have to go on this one solo. The European leaders are all gathered in Milan for a charity dog fashion show. There isn't a way to get them to HQ without their identities being found out."

Hunter's ears sagged. He wasn't one who liked being alone. But a dog had to do what a dog had to do. "What is the mission, Master?"

The Master handed the cano-mutant a thin folder.

Hunter opened it up, and the top paper was a glossy photo of a man in a lab coat and glasses. He looked to be of Indian decent. In the photo, he was petting a medium-sized, gray dog.

"His name is Farid Saraaf, and our eyes in the sky believe he will be targeted by Parvo," The Master said in a monotone voice.

"Why is that?"

"Dr. Saraaf was a colleague of mine when we were in grad school. We both had theories bordering canine DNA manipulation. As I recall, he's brilliant but some of his ideas were a little far-fetched. He wanted to collaborate with me on my transdogmafier, but I declined on my judgment. He is single-minded in his work, and sometimes doesn't question the ethics of a project."

Hunter tilted his head to one side and raised his eyebrows.

Shepherd knew this gesture well enough. Perhaps he had been a little vague. "Dr. Saraaf values knowledge most of all, and at times, his judgment is a bit off. This will make him an easy target for Parvo to manipulate with lies. Dr. Saraaf might not realize that what Parvo wants him to do will be wrong. You must get to him first."

"Of course, Master," Hunter said with a quick salute. "Where does he live? I'll bag him quicker than you can say Pekinese."

Shepherd shook his head. "No, I don't want him to see you unless there is no choice. It's better that you intercept Parvo in the act. But it would be best if he didn't know the Road Rovers ever existed."

Hunter's ears sagged at that, wondering what The Master meant by that. "So, where am I going?"

"According to the Academy of Science in Sacramento, he's holding a symposium for the public," The Master said.

"Awwwww, a symposium," Hunter whined. He couldn't even pass obedience school, and now he had to sit through a long and stuffy speaker. He's be lucky if he could stay awake to keep an eye out for the General.

"You'll have to be in disguise," Shepherd added, and reached into his lab coat. He pulled out a few American dollars. "I apologize that our resources don't include garments that will allow you to fit in, so you'll have to stop somewhere and purchase the correct clothing."

"Sweet!" Hunter said with his tongue lolling out and his tail wagging. Hunter had always wanted to wear human clothes. Always on missions, the Road Rovers were usually garbed in their uniform, or at the very least, combat attire. He needed a little variety. "I'll just stop by the mall and pick something up."

"Hunter, remember, be as discreet as possible," The Master instructed.

"Discreet. Of course. Can I bring Muzzle along?" Hunter said, distracted by the money Shepherd had given him.

The Master gave him a smoldering stare. "Discreet, Hunter. Discreet."

"Oh yeah," Hunter said sheepishly. "I guess I'll be going then."

"One more thing. I've created an upgraded version of the communication device," the Master added, pulling out a new collar. "This one is a two-way transmitter with a wireless ear piece. It's voice activated. There is also a camera in the dog tag so that I can see everything you do. Call me once you arrive in Sacramento. If you run into any trouble, I'll try to send reinforcements as soon as I can."

It made the Road Rover leader uneasy to go on a mission alone, especially when it came to Parvo. "What about the other teams? Couldn't they back me up?" Hunter asked. He had rarely met the others and would have loved a chance to work with any of them.

The Master just shook his head slowly. "Unfortunately, they're all in China. A tropical storm hit, and I sent all the reserves to help with the damage," he explained to his Road Rover. "When I can, I'll send the rest of your team in the Sonic Rover."

Hunter saluted before heading to the Sky Rover. He tried to act confident about his ability to do this mission, but inside he felt depressed and lonely. He wanted his team to go on this mission with him. He wasn't a lone wolf, but rather run with the pack.

"Stop it, Hunter," he berated himself. "Master is trusting you to do this. Your team is counting on you." He quickly jumped into the Sky Rover, and put in his destination to Sacramento, California before taking off.

It was going to be a quiet trip.

* * *

About the time that Hunter was flying across the country, the east coast was waking up with the sun. One particular resident in New Jersey had her shades drawn as tight as they could be, hoping that the bright rays wouldn't find her eyelids. But that didn't matter. It wasn't the sun that woke her up every day, and it wasn't her alarm clock.

_Sun up! Sun up! Walk! Walk! _

The high voice wheedled its way into her mind, bringing her out of her sweet, sweet dreams. Time and time again, the voice never failed to get up with the sun and force her awake.

Mira Ortega grabbed her pillow and pinned it to her head. Noise normally wouldn't be a problem since the fact was that she has been legally deaf since she was sixteen, and both her hearing aids laid on top of a worn out nightstand. The reason for her disturbed sleep came from a voice that nobody else was able to hear. Her reaction to cover her ears was reflex, but she knew deep down that nothing would have been able to mute the voice.

_Oh boy, you're up! Yay, up! Outside! Outside!_

Mira gave a heavy sigh as she felt the vibrations of her neighbor's front door slamming shut and the voice fading away. The muscles in her body loosened up, and she slipped into a foggy sleep. But it was all for not, since her alarm went off which made her bed vibrate. Her body felt shocked as all her senses were suddenly turned on, and her blood pumped faster as if she had an IV of caffeine.

Her body told her that this wasn't their usual routine and protested by being sluggish. But Mira remembered why her alarm was set for an earlier time. She had asked work off weeks ago and suddenly felt jittery with excitement.

Today was the call back audition.

With a bounce in her step, she quickly pressed the button on the coffee machine and then danced to the bathroom. From there, she slipped her hearing aids into her ears and turned on her cassette player. Immediately, ABBA's _Dancing Queen_ started playing. While listening to other songs from the 70s and 80s, she showered and dressed in her ballet attire. She had used her spending money from her last month's paycheck to buy a new leotard, tights and other accessories. They weren't too fancy, but at least they looked nice.

After a quick breakfast, she dried and tied up her hair, then carefully gathered her make-up and put them in her bag. The make-up was brand new, not even opened. She had also spent her extra money on nicer cosmetics, not the cheap Wal-mart crap she usually wore. After a quick look at the clock, she frantically gathered her purse, keys and a cassette she kept on her counter. Looking frantically around her apartment as if she were forgetting something, Mira closed her door and locked it. Exactly twenty-seven seconds later, she had unlocked the door just to snatch up a pair of dirty pink, worn toe-shoes that were draped across her couch. Clutching them to her chest, she locked her door once more and made her way to her '89 Geo.

Before she could touch her car, a voice called to her.

"Good morning."

Mira looked up to see who spoke and came eye to eye with soppy brown ones and a foot-long tongue.

_Oh boy! Friend!_

"Good morning, Titus," Mira said and patted the head that was level with her chest.

"Sorry about that," her neighbor said (Mira had never bothered to learn his name). "I can never control him once he sees you."

The Great Dane almost sighed as Mira scratched his ears and told him mentally that he was a silly boy.

"That's alright. He's a whole lot better than the chihuahua that lives next door," Mira told him just to make him feel better.

"Well, have a good day. Let's go, Titus," the man said and pulled hard on the leash.

From there, Mira quickly threw her stuff into the passenger side of her car, and started it up. Once she was on the road, her nerves started to calm from the comforting purring of the car's motor and her upbeat cassette that she saved just for times like this.

It was going to be a long trip to New York City.

* * *

Hunter had put the Sky Rover on auto-pilot as he crossed over the United States. It wasn't fun flying a plane when all you had to view was blue sky for hours. Without witty banter and squabbling team mates, it was torture just to sit back and watch the view. Hunter wandered through the cabin, trying to find something to occupy his mind. However, his poking around in all the corners came up with only some dust bunnies and a travel version of Monopoly.

"I miss my team," he said out loud and stared at the empty seats of the plane.

It was only after sitting in his own melancholy for an hour that his stomach protested loudly. Patting his belly, Hunter realized he hadn't eaten breakfast. At this time, President Clinton would have walked out to his dog house accompanied by secretaries and body guards to bring him his bowl full of kibble. For a while, Hunter wondered what his owner would think when he found the dog house empty, but he remembered the new Road Rover's policy that The Master put into action. A substitute would have been sent in so the President wouldn't become suspicious.

Hunter glowered at the floor of the Sky Rover, envying his substitute every bite of dry dog food. But then he remembered that he had cash that The Master had given him. He could go buy his own food!

With his spirits uplifted at this, he rushed to the pilot seat to use the GPS to find a small town he could land in. It wasn't that hard; he was in the bread basket section of the US, which was riddled with tiny towns. He touched down somewhere in Nebraska, finding a wooded area to hide the plane before racing into town.

Quicker than lightning, Hunter ran into a used clothing store and raced back out in seconds.

To the few customers in the store, it was like a giant gust of wind had blown open the door and swirled around. A few cried out about tornadoes, and others ducked behind display stands. Once the wind died down, everyone forgot it. However, the sales clerks found a small pile of dollar bills on the cashier counter once everything was calm. Nobody claimed it. Nobody even missed a faded Nebraska hoodie, a pair of jeans, sunglasses, some socks and a pair of shoes since nobody took inventory at the second-hand store. However, they did notice that one of their mops were gone.

* * *

"Welcome to McDonalds. Can I take your order?" a young woman asked in a droll voice that suggested she wasn't a morning person. Or a people person. To her credit, she didn't bat an eye at the big-nosed man who stood before her. She'd seen enough people come in with sunglasses and their hoods pulled up to either look "cool" or to discourage any form of small talk. It was how the man had attached the business end of a mop to his face that made her think he was running from the police or was seriously disturbed.

"Yes, I'd like three egg McMuffins, two hash browns, a cinnamon roll, and a large cup of coffee, please," the strange man said in a louder and brighter voice than should have come from someone incognito.

The cashier raised a single pierced eye-brow, but only tallied the total and spoke the price of the order.

The disguised man smiled broadly and handed her his money with both hands. "You can keep the change," he said.

It didn't take long for his order to come up, and by that time, the man was drooling all over the counter and whining in an excited way. He politely thanked the cashier and everyone who worked there (including the Ronald McDonald statue), and bounced out of the restaurant.

"That guy was soooo creepy," a different cashier told the other, her arms folded as if she were cold. "I think he was some sort of pervert. Something kept moving in his pants. Should we call the police? I bet he's wanted somewhere with that getup."

The other cashier just shrugged. "Yeah, most likely. But I ain't turnin' him in."

"Why not?"

"He gave me a twenty dollar tip."

* * *

"Hunter, have you. . . . What are you wearing?"

Hunter turned to the communication screen when he heard The Master's voice. He smiled broadly. "Do you like it? It's my disguise. Discreet."

The Master looked doubtful. "You look like the Unabomber."

"Cool," Hunter said with a big grin. "What's up, Master?"

"I was just checking on your progress. The symposium is about to begin," The Master said in a worried tone.

"I just crossed the Californian border. I'll get there with time to spare."

"Good. Hunter, I have to reiterate that you must do this without being seen. I just found out that the media is going to be there."

"Will I get to be on TV?" Hunter asked, his tongue hanging out.

The Master frowned. "Don't be seen."

* * *

When Hunter stepped onto the campus of the Academy of Science, he thought, _Master wasn't kidding about this thing. There must be a million people here._

Hunter wasn't close (more like a couple of thousand) but to his nose, it seemed like a million. The campus was thick with new smells. He had to fight the Golden Retriever part of him that wanted to go explore.

Many people were out and about the large grassy area in the middle of the campus. Many were students rushing to study for tests or write papers. A large group of people were congregating around the largest building on campus. Above a few of the windows were large banners that said, "Welcome Dr. Saraaf," and featured a beaker with a smiley face. There were also TV crews everywhere, with reporters standing by their vans talking and smiling into cameras. Every now and then, a few muscle men in black t-shirts could be spotted, obviously security. These men were conducting pedestrian traffic and checking press cards.

Hunter quickly lost himself in the crowd and the cacophony of smells invading his nostrils. He was distracted by so many new things to see, smell and hear that he forgot about his mission awhile. But his nose reminded him when a familiar scent wafted by that caused his hackles to rise. He quickly tried to turn in all directions, nostrils flaring to track the scent. But there were just too many people for him to find it again. Hunter lowered his sunglasses as he tried to find his enemy's face in the crowd, but that, too, failed. He would have had more of a chance of finding Waldo.

Thinking he'd have better luck inside the symposium, Hunter headed inside the building. From there, he was ushered into a large auditorium by the muscle men. Inside, he tried to grab a seat near the front to keep an eye on the doctor, but that proved to be impossible. The front seats were reserved for students, other scientists and the media. He tried to discreetly lean against a pillar, hoping to watch the symposium from a standing position and, therefore, ready for action. But one of the muscle men angrily told him to find a seat. Finally, he was forced to sit further in the back to his disgruntlement.

To make things worse, everyone seemed to be eying him with suspicion. What was wrong with them? He was dressed like a human.

After a few minutes of sitting, the lights darkened while the stage lit up. A dark-skinned man walked on stage to the applause of the audience. Hunter immediately recognized him as the man in the photo.

"Master," Hunter whispered into his collar and immediately could tell from his ear piece that the two way communication device was working. Hopefully the camera was as well, and that the Master could see everything.

For the next thirty minutes, Hunter sagged in his seat as Dr. Saraaf droned on about his life, his theories and his experiment. He used very technical jargon and quoted many men that Hunter didn't know. In his ear piece, he could hear a whispered commentary from the Master throughout the spill. Hunter entertained himself by glancing at the audience for General Parvo's face. He wished that he had brought night vision goggles to help him.

The scientist's voice was very rhythmical, and it started rocking Hunter into a sleep that his earlier coffee high couldn't fight off. If it wasn't for something Dr. Saraaf said that caught Hunter's attention, he would have been deep in dreamland.

"It wasn't until I was a graduate from the Academy of Science that I started to really become passionate about gene splicing. A colleague and room mate of mine was working on a thesis similar to mine. William F. Shepherd and I had often stayed up late at night arguing over the ethics of gene splicing and transmutation," Saraaf spoke through the microphone. At the sound of The Master's name, Hunter became wide awake.

"It is unfortunate that Professor Shepherd died in a lab accident over three years ago. We lost a brilliant mind that day, and I have dedicated my research to him."

The fact that The Master had faked his death wasn't news to Hunter. The Master had explained that even though Parvo knew that Shepherd wasn't dead, the world wasn't ready for the professor to come back from the dead. The human race wasn't ready to know the truth about the Road Rovers. It also made Hunter realize another reason for his presence. The Master probably wanted to watch the symposium, but because of his predicament, he couldn't risk being seen in public. Especially this public.

Dr. Saraaf said a few more words of gratitude about other colleagues, and then the audience broke out into polite applause.

Hunter sat up straighter at this, hoping that this was the end of the seminar. But to his disappointment, Dr. Saraaf seemed to be far from done.

With a gesture of his hands, he indicated that he wanted the stage curtains opened. In jerking motions, the blue cloth slowly opened showing a large dry erase board, a table and a few other things Hunter couldn't see because of where he sat.

Dr. Saraaf smiled into the microphone, obviously about to say something he thought was witty. "Well, I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about my biography. Now would be a good time to show what you have all came to see before you fall asleep."

Polite laughter echoed over the audience.

The man on stage put his fingers to his mouth and blew a sharp, short whistle. Immediately a medium-sized dog rushed onto the sage, ragged tail wagging. The dog went right up to Dr. Saraaf and sat down with an expectant look on his muzzle.

Hunter recognized the dog from the photo of Dr. Saraaf.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my lab assistant, Dash. Say hello, Dash!"

Dash barked once, sitting still the whole time.

Saraaf rewarded Dash with a treat and then gestured for him to get onto the table. The dog obeyed readily, settling himself onto the table as if there weren't a thousand people watching him.

"He listens a lot better than my interns," Dr. Saraaf joked. "And he's cheaper too."

The audience laughed louder this time.

"First off, I have to tell you a little about Dash," Dr. Saraaf told the audience as he stroked the dog's scruffy fur. "I found Dash in an animal shelter about four years ago. He doesn't have a pedigree. I'm not even sure what kind of dog Dash is."

The audience murmured in amusement.

Hunter, with his keen eyes, scrutinized Dash. To everyone there, it was obvious that the dog was of mixed heritage. But this is what Hunter saw: Dash had a body shape more like a Corgi, longer than average, but his legs were longer. His coloring was much like a Husky's, except a much darker gray like a Malamute, but where there should have been white there was a light, dirty gray color. Instead of a lighter coloring at the tip of his long, bushy tail, Dash had his darker coloring on top and the lighter on the underside. He had a fluffy neck and face, with sharp ears that stood up. He would have looked much like a miniature husky in the face except his nose was sharper and shorter.

"I have no idea where this dog came from. He hadn't been treated with anything as far as I know before I adopted him," Saraaf continued with his explanation. "Just a plain, ordinary dog."

Dr. Saraaf went on to explain about an experiment he had done with Dash. It was quite technical, and most of it Hunter didn't understand. But after glancing around the audience, he knew that most of the people knew what the doctor was talking about. And it was very interesting. After a while, Hunter began to form the big picture.

_He's doing the same thing Master did to us, except a little different,_ Hunter thought to himself.

As he listened, Hunter summarized some of the points that Dr. Saraaf was saying in more layman's lingual. First, that DNA is mold-able in a way that it can be sliced, added to, changed and altered under certain circumstances. Dr. Saraaf had found a way to put DNA into a state where changing a creature's DNA strain was safe and certain. Second, he has no way of pin-pointing specific points on the double helix to change the DNA, so the process would either be general or chaotic. In all his case experiments, the combining of DNA has always been stable, and the change was mild in the creature. Third, creatures can't be splice with just any other creature. You can't splice a chimpanzee with a sea slug, their DNA was just too different. The more in common, DNA-wise, the creatures were, the more successful the process will be. It's safest to stay within the same animal class with a few exceptions. If you spliced human DNA into a whale, it wouldn't work since body shapes are very different. But splicing human DNA into a dog is easy.

_Is that what Master did with us? _Hunter thought, looking down at his furry hands. _Do I have human DNA inside of me?_

Hunter couldn't dwell on that for long since his attention was on Dr. Saraaf as the professor explained that he had spliced Dash's DNA with that of human DNA.

"I believe that Dash's IQ has raised 50 points in the last year. I can't verify that this is because of my experiments since this isn't a proper study of my findings. Hopefully with a grant, we can test a wide variety of animals spliced with human DNA to see if this is true, with a control group as well.

"Dash has made leaps and bounds in his training. He can answer simple math questions and recognize over two thousand faces. He even remembers students I've had for only a few days. He remembers what he did weeks ago, and he even chooses what he wants to eat for dinner."

"Can he roll over?" a voice from the audience called out, which caused a ripple of laughter.

Dr. Saraaf nodded, as if the man asked a very intelligent question rather than a joke. "Yes, all of this sounds like I'm bragging about how great my dog's tricks are. Perhaps a demonstration is more in order. Okay, Dash, are you ready?"

Dash barked at this, and wagged his tail.

Saraaf pulled out a small dry erase board and a marker. He uncapped the marker and let Dash take it in his mouth.

"Dash, what is your name?" he asked the dog.

In capital, sloppy letter, Dash wrote his name.

"Good boy," the scientist said as he erased the board. "What's my name?"

Again, Dash wrote with the marker in his mouth.

For a few minutes, Dr. Saraaf asked question after question. Some were math questions, others were questions about their surroundings and what Dash liked to do. After a while, he asked a few more complicated questions involving science and history. Most involved simple knowledge and one word answers. Dash answered all correctly. All this time, the audience had been whispering to each other, but not all of the people sounded convinced.

A woman stood up to address the doctor. "This is all very entertaining, but how do we know that this dog hasn't been coached into these answers."

Dr. Saraaf laid the dry erase board down and folded his arms. He didn't look angry or defensive as he spoke. "Okay, then Dash will take some answers from the audience. And to make things fair, miss, could you come up here and hold the board."

The woman hesitated, but in the end, went up to the stage while Dr. Saraaf left to take a seat in the audience.

Soon the audience was a cacophony of voices asking questions for Dash to answer.

"What do you think of our current president?"

"Do you like to eat dog food?"

"What is your position on the neutering and spaying of dogs?"

"Do you remember your parents?"

"Do you have a religious preference?"

The woman who was on the stage calmly asked Dash questions that were suggested from the audience, and each time Dash answered. However, his answers were a little disappointing. Most of the questions were about his opinion on current events and culture, and most of the time he only wrote, "No preference."

Hunter wasn't surprised. What did a dog want with clothing or what was being shown on TV? However, the Golden Retriever felt disappointed when Dash had no preference of music either. How could someone not like music?

The culture questions usually came from reporters who were there for the fun of it and were trying to make fun of the situation. However, a there were a few who asked some serious questions dealing with politics. These questions Dash refused to answer, and when cajoled enough, only wrote, "Don't understand." This brought out the skeptical scoffs, and many muttered how this was a waste of time.

Hunter didn't blame Dash. Even he didn't understand some of those questions, and he'd been a Road Rover for over two years. As far as Hunter could estimate, Dash had the education of a third grade human child. How many eight-year-old children could answer those questions?

The other questions were basic enough, quizzing Dash on basic knowledge, and about his daily schedule. After a while, the woman on stage looked as if she had enough and said so.

"Just a minute," Dr. Saraaf said before she could put the board down. "You didn't ask Dash a question. And before you do, write it down on the board, and let him read it."

Someone next to Hunter whispered to his neighbor that this was the most unbelievable publicity stunt he'd ever seen. The two men stood up, and left the auditorium, disgruntled.

The woman on stage took a moment to think of a question, and then hurriedly wrote it down. She looked as if she believed this just as much as the men that had left.

When presented with the white board, Dash put his nose to every word that was written as if he were a child reading words and following along with their finger. When finished, he sat down and looked at the woman expectantly. When the board was wiped clean and the marker given back to him, Dash wrote down four words, that made a complete, if broken, sentence.

"He need eat more," the woman read out loud so others knew what it said. She then said, "My question was, 'What do you think of Dr. Saraaf?'"

At this, the audience's view of this display changed; there seemed to be more people persuaded by a dog criticizing his master rather than displaying his intelligence. Dr. Saraaf thanked the woman on stage as he stepped back into the light, and ushered her off stage to go back to her seat.

"For your information, Dash is the more responsible of the two of us," Dr. Saraaf said with a warm smile. "He reminds me when meal time is, and often whines if I don't finish what's on my plate. He's very motherly." The doctor rubbed Dash's head as the dog leaned against his master.

At this time, a reporter jumped up and waved a hand with a pen in it. Dr. Saraaf only had to look at him before he was speaking. "This is all very interesting, but I'm sure you didn't bring us all out here just to show you can play God. Great, you can make dogs smarter, but that doesn't sound like ground-breaking work."

"I'm assuming you're wanting to know how this benefits mankind, since you didn't add a question in all that," Dr. Saraaf said with intelligent eyes. He waited for the reporter to sit back down before he would speak again. "Yes, I didn't bring the press and all my colleagues here just to show that I have the smartest dog in the world. I brought you here to show you the potential my research has, and what it means for the future.

"One thing I didn't mention about Dash is that because of the splicing of DNA, he will probably live longer. I have no proof of this since he is only about six years old. But I'm sure that time will tell that he'll live a good twenty or thirty years longer than other dogs. Imagine a world where people don't have to say good-bye to their pets too early. You can actually have a companion that lives just as long as you do. This would be even more beneficial for those with service dogs. A blind person wouldn't have to keep replacing their guide dogs every decade or so. The police and army wouldn't have to spend so much on training their bomb and drug sniffing dogs. Not to mention, the increase of intelligence would help with search and rescue.

"On a further, yet superficial note, puppy training wouldn't take so long. Owners could take their dogs everywhere since dogs would know what is proper behavior at all times. Leashes would no longer be needed. Family pets would be better guard dogs since they can be told what to look for and guard against. Bad dog behavior will be easy to eliminate through counseling, and they'd no longer need to be put to sleep. Dog fighting rings would no longer have anywhere to hide as our canine friends would be quick to report their fellow dogs being abused.

"And this doesn't just apply to dogs, but all animals as well. Imagine the possibilities of splicing different mammals with human DNA. Or one animal with another. There are limitless combinations that can be done with this new type of science. Who knows where the evolution of our world can achieve with this new type of science?"

Hunter felt the fur on the back of his neck rise at the last part of Dr. Saraaf's speech. Was it just him, or did the doctor sound as if there was a little mania in his voice? He looked around, and others were whispering to their neighbors secretively. Hunter was glad to see he wasn't the only one disturbed by this.

"And that isn't all. In the future, I hope to be able to control the changes during the process. If I can achieve this, then human DNA could be improved upon. A dog's hearing is very acute. Perhaps, with the right technology, dog DNA would be able to cure those who are hearing impaired. A cat's sight would help those who need glasses. Imagine being able to see in the dark like a cat, or have the nose senses of a dog. Compared to other mammals, humans have very under-developed senses. Animals usually have one sense that's stronger than the others, but humans have been given the shaft, so to speak, in this area. With my technology, we can change all that."

Once again the audience was in an uproar of voices, but all of it among themselves. From what Hunter could hear with his ears there were mixed feeling about all of this. There were those who argued for Dr. Saraaf, saying that it would be no different than transplanting a pig's heart into a man. Others were saying what Dr. Saraaf was talking about was unethical.

It took many minutes for Dr. Saraaf to calm everyone down enough to begin speaking again.

"I know a lot of you disagree with my work, and it may not be accepted everywhere. At best, it will be years until my research is ready for human experimentation, maybe decades. At worst, I'll not be given a grant to continue my work, or, even along the road, find out that Dash is just a very intelligent dog."

That made the audience laugh, and it cleared the air of contention. At that moment, a reporter stood up to ask a question.

"Dr. Saraaf, how does it all work? Do you just give the doggy a shot, or is radiation involved? Come on, give us the scoop."

Dr. Saraaf put his hands up in a stopping motion. "I'm sorry, but that's all confidential. I'm not giving out the details and specifics. This is just merely a demonstration, and a pathetic attempt for someone to sponsor me. This demonstration is over, but I will take one or two more questions. Maybe Dash will answer a few. But for now, this seminar is over."

A majority of the audience stood up at that time. Most started to leave the auditorium, but a few meandered to the front to either ask a question or listen to the reporters. Hunter, for his part, moved to the side and along the wall to get closer to the professor. He had a feeling that Parvo was nearby, but he still couldn't see the man. Part of him knew that the General wouldn't try anything with such a big crowd, but Hunter couldn't take that chance.

_If only I could just explain the situation to him, _Hunter thought to himself, but remembered The Master's instructions.

The lone Road Rover continued to watch as more and more of the reporters started packing up and leaving. Dr. Saraaf was now surrounded by more students than reporters. One in particular, a blonde female, seemed to be hanging very close to his side. The scientist said something to the group of students, and a burst of laughter came from the group. Obviously Dr. Saraaf wasn't leaving any time soon.

Hunter scanned the crowd slowly, determined not to miss anything. If Parvo was in the auditorium, then the Road Rover would spot him. Near the farthest exit, a large man was leaning against one of the support columns where it was dark. He was wearing a large trench coat and wide-brim hat. Hunter kept watching the man, especially since the human seemed interested in Dr. Saraaf but wasn't going any closer. After a while, the man stepped away from the column and into the light. The super-powered cano-mutant's ears went straight up as he saw a blond mustache on the man's face as he walked out of the auditorium.

Careful not to use his super powers least he hurt someone, Hunter rushed to the other side of the auditorium to follow the man in the trench coat. Hunter was lucky there weren't many people left at the symposium since he could still see the man once he went down to the exit. Before the man could reach the outside glass door, Hunter was right behind him, grabbing his shoulder.

"Parv. . . o?"

"Hey, man. What gives?"

As Hunter spun the man around, he realized that he had made a mistake. The man was far too young, the enormous mustache looked to be an attempt to make the man look tougher and older, but instead made him look like a pedophile.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," Hunter quickly said as he retraced his steps back into the auditorium. He stopped in his steps as he noticed the front of the large room was empty save for a few remaining news crew and meandering students. Dr. Saraaf was gone.

"Hey, do you know where Dr. Saraaf has gone?" Hunter asked the first person he met.

"Yeah, he just left with some woman. I think they went out the back," the student said, pointing to a door just beyond the stage.

While that in itself shouldn't have been alarming, Hunter still started to move toward the stage at a jog. As he thought back on that quick glance at the woman, he couldn't help but think that if the woman had black hair, she would look exactly like The Groomer.

The Road Rover practically kicked down the back stage door and looked in both directions. One was a dead end, the other was a very long and empty hallway with a door at then end, which was swinging closed. With nobody watching, Hunter used his super speed to get to the door and went out. It lead outdoors, right into an alleyway which also lead out to the grassy, open area at the front of the building. As Hunter ran out of the alleyway, he could see that the area was still crowded with news crews and students bustling around. He scanned the crowd, looking for the blonde woman or Dr. Saraaf.

Then he heard a dog barking. Hunter knew it came from Dash. With his sharp ears, he could easily pinpoint that the bark came from the left of him, away from the front of the building. Looking in that direction, he saw the blonde woman walking arm in arm with Dr. Saraaf. Immediately he wanted to take the professor away from the woman, but remembered his orders to not be seen. But that order basically kept his hands tied when it came to keeping Dr. Saraaf safe.

"Master. . .?" he asked, wondering if communication was back on. "Are you there?"

A static filled voice came onto his ear piece faintly. "-ere Hunter."

"The doc is being led away by The Groomer. What do I do?" Hunter asked, eager to serve.

"Stop him," The Master ordered sharply.

Just as Hunter was about to race toward to the two, the voice in the ear piece said something that made him hesitate. "But don't be seen."

Irritated, Hunter started walking swiftly across the grass. "If I can't be seen, how am I going to stop them," the golden retriever said, trying not to whine. He was close to putting his tail between his legs in distress.

"Think of something, Hunter. This is very important," The Master urged.

Eyes darting all over, the Road Rover leader quickly formed a rudimentary planned. Even if he couldn't show his powers to Saraaf, he was very good at not being seen. At least, not clearly.

* * *

Farid Saraaf was intrigued by the blonde woman that approached him after the symposium. At first he had been skeptical about her claim of having studied William Shepherd's work and owned some of his unpublished papers, but after a while, he could tell that she knew her stuff. He was more impressed when she revealed to him some of her own theories about creating a trans-mutated canine, one that was almost human but still had the senses and outward appearance of a dog. She even hinted to a way of creating super-human properties in these "cano-mutants", as she called them. While he didn't agree with all she said was possible, at least not without much more research, it was still an intriguing idea.

To prevent being interviewed by the press, Saraaf had agreed to take the woman out the back door of the auditorium. As they crossed the campus green, Dr. Saraaf became more and more involved in his conversation with the woman, adding to her theories his own hypothesises. They were almost to the public parking lot when Dash grabbed his master's pant leg in his mouth and pulled.

"Oh, my car is in the employee parking lot," Saraaf realized as he looked around. "I'm in the opposite direction."

"Please, Doctor, let me take you out to lunch. I'd hate to leave our conversation as it is," the woman said with her exotic accent. She leaned toward the scientist, her hand on his chest.

It was obvious, even to Saraaf, that this woman was laying on her charms a little too thick. He didn't know what she wanted from him, but Farid wasn't at all attracted to her. He found his work far too important for a woman to come into his life. But he was still tempted mainly for the sake of having an intelligent conversation with a colleague, and maybe a prospective business partner.

Again, Dash pulled on his pants suit, growling in an urgent, non-threatening way.

"I am sorry, but I'll have to take a rain-check on that lunch," Saraaf apologized. "I really should be getting this guy home and feeding him. He's had a busy day."

Not many people knew that he had often used Dash as a reason to get away at certain moments. It wasn't that Dash actually wanted to go home to eat; Saraaf kept spare dog food in his car and his office. It was because of his best kept secret, one that nobody, not even the college, knew of. Nobody except Dash knew the exact time of day he had to take his medication.

"Doctor, I must insist that you come with me," the woman said sternly, her smile getting thin.

Dash whined, nervously dancing back and forth.

Saraaf shook his head and stepped away from from the woman. "I'm afraid I must insist on leaving, but I thank you for talking to me," he told her, not promising anything. Her intensity had made him wary. As he turned around to walk away, he felt a strong grip on his arm.

"I'm afraid I'm . . ."

The woman was interrupted by a small explosion that happened in the dumpster near the parking lot. It didn't seem too dangerous, yet it was loud enough to draw the attention of the people nearby.

Dash whimpered at the loud noise, hiding behind Saraaf's leg.

Suddenly a large gust of wind flung Farid onto his back with Dash crouched to the ground. Gasping for air, the scientist gazed around with wide eyes. It couldn't be coincidence that so many things were happening all at once. He looked for the woman and found her on the ground, appearing to be unconscious. He shakily picked himself up and started toward the woman to see if she was alright. But he hesitated when he saw that her blonde hair was a wig that lay a few feet away from her body.

Another gust of wind came upon him, one not so strong. Distinctly he heard a voice say, "Run," but when he turned around, there was no one there. Shaken by the almost supernatural events around him, he turned around and ran.

"Follow him, Hunter."

* * *

The golden retriever was just about to do so when he heard a noise behind him. Turning, he saw The Groomer sitting up with a communication device held to her mouth.

"General, the Road Rovers are here. The professor is running," she relayed. Once she had spoken her message, her eyes landed on Hunter and she knew who he was despite his disguise.

There was a strange vibration in the air, and suddenly people were shouting and pointing to the sky. Right above the grassy area of the college, a bulldog-shaped, hovering ship appeared out of nowhere.

"I would not have predicted this," Hunter whispered to himself, in awe that Parvo had added invisibility to his arsenal.

"You must get to the professor first," The Master ordered, his voice so loud it was starting to give Hunter a headache.

"What about being seen?" Hunter asked, starting to move at regular speed after the man and his dog.

"If Parvo brings out his own cano-mutants, then there really is no point," The Master said, sounding a bit defeated. "Let's just hope that your disguise is good enough."

* * *

Farid Saraaf couldn't believe how crazy this day was turning out to be. That blonde seemed to be the start of the weirdness that now lead to a flying, metal dog. He had stopped running long enough to watch the unusual object in the sky as it shot down a beam of light at him. Thinking he had only seconds to live, the professor dove for cover, grabbing Dash's collar on his way down. Only when he was sure that he wasn't dying that he looked around.

A man with a blond mustache and a silver helmet was slowly lowered to the ground from the ship by the beam of light. He was dressed in a muscle shirt and, to add to the strangeness of the situation, had a robotic left arm and right leg.

From his position on the ground, Dr. Saraaf tried to stumble onto his feet to run away. Dash had put himself between his master and the strange man, growling defensively.

"I'm not here to hurt you, professor," the man said in a raspy voice. "I am here to help you."

Saraaf crawled backward, trying to keep his distance from the man. "W-who are you?"

"I am a friend," the stranger simply said. "You must come with me. You are in danger."

"That woman. . .," Saraaf said, his eyes widening. He knew there was something wrong about her, especially since she wore a wig.

"That was my assistant," the stranger said with a shake of his head. "I apologize for the deception, but I had to. Our enemies were very close, and I had to get you away quickly."

"Again, who are you?" the professor repeated again with more confidence. He finally found his strength to stand up.

"There is no time. We must go." The man had started to raise his voice, but then started coughing near the end.

"General, watch out!"

A female's voice shouted out the warning, and then the stranger was leaping at Dr. Saraaf. Not long after they hit the ground, there was the sound of laser firing. Right where Saraaf had been standing was charred grass.

"What's going on? Who is shooting at us?" Saraaf shouted, keeping his head down.

"The Road Rovers," the stranger whispered harshly.

* * *

When the laser beam whipped past his head and nearly hit Dr. Saraaf, Hunter had turned his head to see who was firing. He only caught a glimpse of The Groomer before she slammed her fist into his face. The sucker punch was strong enough to knock him flat on his back, dazing him for a few seconds. When he finally managed to get back onto his feet, he was dizzy and his vision was blurry.

"What is that thing?"

When Hunter heard Saraaf shout those words, he gulped in fear. It didn't take him long to realize his hat and fake beard had been removed, and his face was bare for anyone to look upon.

"Keep away from him, you monster," The Groomer shouted, now at General Parvo's side.

"Be careful, professor. He won't be alone," Parvo warned the scientist.

Before Hunter could react, suddenly multiple lasers were being fired, but not at him. They were targeting the three humans.

Parvo grabbed Dr. Saraaf by the arm. "Come on, professor. We don't stand a chance against those monsters."

Everything was happening so fast, and Hunter's head ached that he was unable to stop them from stepping into the beam of light from the bulldog ship and lifted up into the air.

"Dash! Here boy, come," Hunter heard the professor shout before they moved too far away for him. A streak of gray bounded toward the humans, and with a surprisingly high leap from the small dog, Dash landed in his master's arms. It wasn't long before they all disappeared into the ship, which flew away.

"Hunter, what's happening?" The Master's voice came on the radio along with a bunch of static. "I can't see anything."

"The Groomer jumped me. I couldn't do anything," Hunter said as he hung his head. "And what's worse, Dr. Saraaf saw my face." He remembered the laser fire and ran around to find the source of the attack. To his surprise, he didn't find any cano-mutants, but unmanned guns perfectly positioned to make it look like Hunter had a team to attack Saraaf. He grumbled to himself for making it so easy to help Parvo take the professor without a struggle.

All this time the radio was silent, and Hunter could imagine how angry The Master was. But all was not lost.

"You must get back to the Sky Rover, now," The Master ordered, sounding shaky.

As he did as he was told, he relayed to The Master while running, "Don't worry, I have everything covered. When I was knocking down The Groomer earlier, I put a bug on Saraaf. I should be able to track them."

"Good dog, Hunter," The Master praised. "Then all is not lost."

Once his super speed had carried him to where he hid the Sky Rover, he piloted the plane up into the sky before activating the bug. Parvo's ship wasn't too far away, so Hunter was optimistic that this mission wasn't a complete bust.

* * *

As soon as Hunter's team was able to, they had rushed to Road Rover Headquarters. The dog fashion show in Milan had hindered them from trading with their look-alikes. Ever since Blitz had been taken on a month long trip with the leader of Germany and had been out of commission, The Master had found dogs that looked just like every member of the team. These look-alikes were trained to quickly switch with the actual Road Rovers in situations like this.

"That was close-sky," Exile said as he exited the transdogmafier. "Owner almost saw two Exiles at one point."

"That was a sticky situation," Colleen agreed. "The Master must have something very important to call us away like that."

At this time, Blitz jumped out of his transdogmafier with aplomb. "Colleen, did you see me in the fashion show. I was hot, wasn't I? I should be a model."

Colleen rubbed her chin. "Yeah. . . I think I did see you. You were the one in the pink dress."

Blitz's ears went down. "No, I was wearing a camouflage jacket. It was sexy."

The collie only shook her head, her long hair whipping back and forth. "No, it was definitely the pink dress. It's so you."

Blitz stuck his nose up in the air. "You're just mad that you were the only one not in the show."

Besides Blitz, Exile and Shag had also been in the fashion show. The husky had been showing off some flashy dog shoes which he didn't mind them since they felt similar to the ones that sled dogs wore if they had an injured paw. Shag, because of his heavy fur, had been wearing a simple yodeler's hat.

For once, Blitz's comeback had stung Colleen more than she'd care to admit. Unlike the other Road Rovers, Colleen was placed with a country ruler that already had canine pets. Instead of entering the graceful collie, the Queen of England had entered all seven of her Pembroke Welsh Corgis into the show, gushing over how adorable they were in their clothing.

Over all, Colleen could care less. She had been alone for so long on the streets that she really didn't need anyone, least of all an owner. At times, she was even glad for the short dogs so the Queen had someone to pamper and hug. And Corgis weren't so bad, once they stopped barking. Her position in the palace was purely a job, some place she could keep an eye out for danger and keep England safe.

But missing out on the fashion show in Milan had made her a little sad. Silently she had gazed at all the dogs being paraded around in their fancy clothes and envied them. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, least of all the boys on her team, that she wanted to wear something cute or pretty. Even wearing the Road Rover's uniform had lost its novelty; it was getting old. Recently she was starting to day dream of wearing something different, feminine. V-neck shirts. Flattering jeans. High heels. She wondered what it would be like to wear them.

"World to Colleen. Is anybody in there?" Exile asked as he waved his paw in front of the collie.

Shaking her head, Colleen broke away from her thoughts, angry at herself for thinking of such things while on duty. "Come on, gents. We've a job to do," Colleen told the boys, her voice angrier than she intended.

As The Master explained how the situation starting out with Hunter working alone in the field, there was less than the usual jokes. Mostly they just made fun of Hunter's disguise which The Master had mistakenly shown them. But when the radio transmission that The Master recorded was played back, they were quiet.

"Right now, Hunter is heading East," The Master explained, showing Hunter and Parvo's flight paths. "I don't know where Parvo is going, but we need to get the professor back ASAP. You four will go and head him off."

"Wait a minute, Master. Something is going on," Hunter's voice came from the computer. He had been on all this time, but had been content to listen as his team was briefed. "Parvo has stopped."

"Where?"

"Somewhere over Michigan," Hunter's voice answered. "I'm almost there."

"Go in slowly," The Master commanded softly, as if Parvo could hear him.

The Road Rovers and their human maker listened intently to the silence, trying to image what Hunter was seeing.

"I'm at the spot that the tracker indicates, but I don't see anything," Hunter told over the microphone. "I'm scanning the land, but I don't think there are any underground bunkers."

The Master sighed heavy. "He must have found the tracker and threw it overboard." The human didn't take long to morn over this before he straightened up. "It's up to you four Rovers. Take the Sonic Rover, and head along his path. If Parvo is heading anywhere, it might be New York. Now go."

"Yes Master," the four Rovers said together with a salute, and sprang to obey.

* * *

Once they had the professor in the ship, it had taken the two villains a while to calm him down. Clutching his dog (who wouldn't stop growling at the pair), Saraaf demanded answers to multiple questions.

"Sit down, professor. All in good time," Parvo said, gesturing to a chair for the man. Then he turned to the woman. "Start flying us East until I know where we should go from here. And keep the 'crew' out of sight." Parvo wanted to be as far away from California as possible, but if he could persuade Saraaf to work with him, all the best supplies could be found in the East.

Saraaf did as he was told, hushing Dash with a command. "I think I'm within my rights to be upset. It's not every day that I get beamed up into a UFO." Even though Saraaf was being sarcastic, he wondered how close he was to the truth. He had recently been hearing a lot of strange stories being passed around by his students. Aliens, werewolves, talking anthropomorphic dogs and mutated bugs were just the start, but after what he saw today, perhaps those stories weren't so farfetched.

Only when Parvo felt the ship start moving at high speeds did he relax. "Okay, professor," he relented. "Now I will answer your questions."

For the next hour, General Parvo spun the biggest web of lies he had ever told, explaining to the scientist that he had been targeted by an old friend from Saraaf's past. He told a story of how William Shepherd was still alive after faking his own death so he could go underground and create an army of super-powered canine slaves. Shepherd had succeeded in creating his abominations, the Road Rovers, and was now trying to take over the world. Only General Parvo and his assistant, The Groomer, knew about this nefarious plot and were trying to stop him.

The reason that Shepherd wanted Dr. Saraaf was because General Parvo had stolen all of Shepherd's research and his transdogmafier. Shepherd had been unable to recreate the experiment, and thinks that Saraaf can help him make more and better cano-sapiens.

As all of this was related to the scientist in detail, he tried to grasp onto the information. Not only did this story not fit into Saraaf's memories of who Shepherd was, but he was having a hard time concentrating on anything long enough to determine if Parvo was lying. He was feeling agitated and his stress was increasing. He could feel the signs of panic starting to show. He knew that he needed to take his prescription soon and wondered when his last pill was. Sometimes, when he was working, he would forget to take his medication for days. Did he take one yesterday? Or the day before? By the feel of it, it had been a few days.

"That doesn't sound like Shepherd at all," Saraaf argued, wiping his forehead. "He wouldn't do something like that."

"It was that explosion that almost killed him," Parvo said, slightly changing his story. "It must have done something to his mind, because he's no longer the same Shepherd."

"That thing. . .," the scientist went on, remembering what he saw during the laser fire. "That was. . ."

"Yes, one of Shepherd's creations," Parvo affirmed. "You saw how it was shooting at us. Obviously when it saw that I was with you, it was ordered to attack. If Shepherd can't have your help, he most likely will want you dead."

Saraaf paled and loosened his tie and button shirt. "Well, you have my word that I won't help him. I need to go home, now." He wasn't sure how he'd react without his medicine.

"No, you can't," Parvo said sharply, his face enraged. But a second later he was calm again. "If you go home, Shepherd will find you."

"I will tell the police," Saraaf reasoned, his fists clenched from nerves. "I will be fine."

"You don't understand. That monster of Shepherd's has powers, as do the others," Parvo continued to press. "Besides, now that you know the truth of Shepherd's evil, we need you to help us."

"But I need to go home. I need. . . something," Saraaf said vaguely. Even with Parvo's secret situation, the professor was hesitant to reveal his plight.

Parvo waved his hand casually. "We will provide you with everything you need," he said, writing off Saraaf's pleading. "Now come. I would like you to see my work."

Farid Saraaf followed the large man into another section of the ship with Dash so close to his heels, the dog nearly tripped him. In this room, there was a moderate laboratory that had some major machinery as well as chemicals. A large computer was set into one wall. The professor tried his hardest to ignore his symptoms, but after a while, he didn't need to. Once he was entranced by the information he was taking in, his condition seemed to melt away. It was one reason he could easily loose himself in his work, it just made one critical part of his life much easier. Before long, Saraaf was fixing problems in Parvo's information and writing down his own equations to chemical mixtures.

"So, do you think you could recreate Shepherd's experiment?" Parvo asked as he hungrily licked his lips.

"Hmmm," Saraaf said absently before he understood the question. "Oh, I don't know if it would be worth it. There are gaps in your information, and as far as I can see, Shepherd could not have made such a complicated creature as you described with this machine. At best, he'd have mutated the canine, but their intelligence wouldn't have evolved. But why would you want me to recreate it? Don't you have his machine?"

This revelation made Parvo so irritated he almost lost his temper, but kept it together. "Yes, but it was damaged," the villain lied. He didn't mention that the information Saraaf was looking over was what Parvo learned from building the machine from Shepherd's blueprints. But without Shepherd's notes, he didn't understand half of it.

"However, there seems to be another way. A way that does not involve this 'transdogmafier' machine," Saraaf said as he wrote down more equations. "Theoretically, it can be done with the right formula of chemicals and treated DNA. Basically, it would be much like my own research, but on a higher level."

Parvo seized Saraaf's shoulders and squeeze hard. "Then do it!" he ordered.

At the outburst, Dash growled and barked threateningly at Parvo.

The professor pulled away, his face showing surprise. "But what you are asking me to do is completely unethical. Not only have I not calculated the outcome over and over again through a super computer, but you're asking me to skip scientific steps, including animal experimentation before moving on to human volunteers. It's just not done."

During Saraaf's dialogue, Parvo felt his pressure rise, and he just wanted to slap the human across the face. But when he heard the words "human volunteers", he reeled. "Humans? No, I want to mutate dogs!"

Saraaf shook his head in frustration. "I just don't see how it could be done. What you are asking for is too radical of a change. It makes more sense to inject a human with dog DNA first to see the results. In fact, afterward, you could use the human's altered DNA to easily make these 'cano-sapiens' that you've described." As the words spilled out of his mouth, Dr. Saraaf wondered why he was saying them. The experiment was unethical, but for some reason, his mind continued to work on the problem to make it possible. He recognized when he was going into a mania.

At first Parvo was furious with what the professor had said. The villain adamantly believed that dogs were the noblest of creatures, and only they were worthy to be his servants. But when he thought about it, humans could have that dog-like loyalty, much like The Groomer was with him. And if he could transform humans into cano-sapiens, he could control them much like he could his own cano-mutants.

Dr. Saraaf did hint that after a while, after a few experiments, perhaps he could switch to transforming dogs. Parvo did understand the concept that sometimes you had to start with a short cut with science before you could create the real thing. In some cases, the shortest way was a curved line.

But he needed to know one more thing.

"What about the super powers? Does the equation include that?" the general asked tentatively.

Saraaf, involved in the work, barely looked up. "No. That of all things I couldn't figure out. It sounds like something from a comic book. But if the subject already displayed normal than usual characteristics in one area, the transformation could emphasize them," Saraaf said off-hand. "Much like a weight-lifter would have better strength if combined with the right DNA."

Almost gently, Parvo laid his hand on Saraaf's neck. When he did, he felt something odd clinging to the professor's shirt collar. He picked it up and looked at it. "Professor," he said softly as he nonchalantly clenched the object in his hand. "If you had the chemicals and the equipment, could you make the formula? For hypothetical reasons."

Dr. Saraaf seemed eager to even start the experiment, stating that there was no harm in creating it. He even wanted to try it out on a lab rat.

_I'll get you a lab rat,_ Parvo thought with a smile as he showed the scientist where the supplies were. Lucky for him, the villain had everything the man asked for.

As Saraaf was working on his "theoretical" formula, Parvo moved to the pilot's cabin where The Groomer and cano-mutants were. He took the tracker he found on the professor and dropped it into a shoot that would expel it outside the ship.

"What now, General?" The Groomer asked eagerly.

Once Parvo was sure Hunter's bug was gone, he asked, "Do you still have the file of extra-ordinary humans that you once researched?"

"Yes, but I thought you had rejected my idea," The Groomer said with surprise. One self-designated job that she had was to constantly research the world and setting aside any information that could eventually be useful for the future. She had abandoned her last project of trans-mutated felines for another idea. She found a string of humans that displayed "super-human" characteristics. Most were probably hoaxes, and not worth their time. But there were a few who didn't crave the limelight, and those The Groomer had been very interested in. She had presented this information to Parvo, but at the time he wasn't interested. As always, she never threw any of this information away.

"I need one of them. Someone on the East coast. And make sure they aren't a fake," Parvo ordered, feeling a little nervous. He wasn't sure of this new direction he was taking, but he didn't see much of a choice. Saraaf was proving to be difficult to manipulate. He'd be lucky if this plan worked. And if it did, then Parvo might be able to get rid of the man.

"Here's one. She lives in New Jersey," The Groomer said, and printed off the bio. "She's a 'dog whisperer', and so far has stayed away from the media."

The information looked to be a few newspaper articles of a girl, perhaps thirteen, and her gift. The article was from almost a decade ago, so Parvo guessed she was an adult by now. That was better, adults weren't missed as easily as children were.

"And she still is in New Jersey?"

"The same town. She never left."

That sounded promising. She might be the real thing.

"Then let's go get this. . . Mira Ortega."

* * *

Alone in the bathroom, Mira went through her routine. She had done her stretching in front of the other girls, but the rest she didn't want them to see. The first part involved her appearance. First she brushed her shoulder length black hair and put it into two tight pony tails. Make-up was next; she put it on slowly and deliberately. She didn't like to use too much and didn't need to. Her naturally tan skin was almost perfect, a gift from her mother's Italian ancestry.

But it was her hearing aids that she didn't want the others to see. She didn't want everyone to know about her disability. Getting a dancing gig was hard enough without being handicapped.

Even though she took very good care of both her hearing aides, she still liked to go through a cleaning routine before she danced. With rubbing alcohol and Q-tips, she cleaned them thoroughly. Carefully, she removed both batteries and replaced them with brand new ones. She couldn't risk them running out of energy in the middle of a song.

Finally she was done and slipped them into ears that were also cleaned carefully.

She took one final look in the mirror to see if she was presentable. Although many dancers didn't wear jewelry since it was distracting, Mira wore a simple leather necklace with a metal heart that fit right in the dip of her collar bone. The heart was painted with bright, metallic pink paint that was chipped and scratched in many places. The heart was engraved with the name "Shadow".

Mira kissed two of her fingers before putting it on the metal heart.

"Wish me luck, Shadow," she whispered before leaving the bathroom.

Even though she took her time to get ready, Mira still had to wait a while until it was her turn. As she did, she bore through the groups of girls that looked her way coldly or gave her dirty looks. She heard that dancing was a very competitive career, and now she knew why. This was the second call-back, and still there were almost a hundred dancers. Not only was she competing again women who had experience, but there were those who could afford to have plastic surgery and make-overs.

"Mira Ortega."

When she heard her name called, she went to the stage. Already three other people were there. To save time, four dancers would perform at the same time. The one that had taken center stage was a tall blonde who wore designer dance clothes. She only glanced at Mira through false eye-lashes before facing the judges with head high.

For a minute, Mira felt as if she were against a giant (In more ways than one. She was, after all, not very tall). She was just one, small Jersey girl who had ventured into the big city for a chance to display her talent. She couldn't even hear the music if it wasn't for the devices in both her ears. Nature had given her the worse advantage; how did she expect to compete against girls like this?

But as the music started, her heart felt as if it longed for rhythm. Despite her handicap, Mira had been drawn to music, just like how her other gift kept her drawn to dogs. She couldn't escape who she was, just as she couldn't escape from "hearing" what dogs thought.

In the moment that Mira began the dance steps with deliberate and graceful movements, she was determined that she had what it took to be a dancer. Not with fancy clothes or artificial beauty, but by her own talent.

As she danced, she could tell that today was the day. Things would be different from now on.

* * *

End of Chapter 1

(Author's notes: For those of you who have read my first attempt at writing "Half Breed" [and if you remember that long ago], I'm going in a slightly different direction. So far, the story-line is basically the same, but I have a completely different game-plan with this story. Not only do I want to tell my OC's story a bit better, but I also have the goal to show each individual on the Road Rover's team. I'm hoping that not only will I give you readers the same fun-loving Rovers from the show, but also show how they are deep inside. I'm hoping that I can shed some different light on the Rovers while still being true to the characters.

As you may have noticed, I was trying to keep this story as authentic, time-wise. The show takes place in the late 90s during Bill Clinton's time in the White House, and I'm trying to keep my references within that time period. If anyone sees a discretion in that aspect, please tell me.

I also apologize for not getting to this story earlier. I had some great readers, and it broke my heart to stop writing "Half Breed" years ago. But at that time, my life was all over the place and some things were just more important than being a fan.

I would also like to invite those who don't have a deviantart account to go look on my page. I have a lot of silly Road Rover art and comics for you to view. I will have a link for it in my bio.

See you next time.)


	2. Chapter 2: The Hunt

Half-Breed

Chapter 2: The Hunt

By Emilou AKA Hatashi Kitty

On one the Road Rover Headquarter's computer's screen, there was a map of North America where two red dots were converging. One was Hunter in the Sky Rover, who was moving over the Great Lakes on his way to New York. The second was the rest of the team in the Sonic Rover; having traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and was almost to the East coast. Soon they would meet up, and begin their search for Parvo's ship.

While his group of mutated canines focused on their mission, William Shepherd monitored the tri-state area for any sign of Parvo. He wasn't completely convinced that his old enemy was headed for New York City, but it was the best he could do since the tracking device failed. The other computer screens had multiple windows open, featuring police databases that Shepherd had hacked into earlier. Along with a few of the major police radio signals playing in the background, the scientist hoped he had all his bases covered. On top of that, he was researching medical labs, technology warehouses and other areas that he suspected Parvo would go to for equipment, including anywhere that the kidnapped Dr. Saraaf had recently been. Shepherd felt so stretched in his multitasking that he almost didn't hear Hunter's voice over the radio.

"Hunter to Master. Come in, Master."

Shepherd, with his mind still on his research, pushed the intercom button and said, "I'm here, Hunter. Report."

Hunter's voice came through the speakers with a lot of static, and the police scanners almost drowned him out. "I'm right over New York City, but something is interfering with my controls."

"You're too close to the airport," Shepherd told Hunter, knowing that the radio towers of large airports like the one in New York could affect other electrical equipment.

"Roger that," Hunter replied. Soon after, he asked, "How far away are the others?"

Shepherd glanced up at the map and focused on the tri-state area where they were converging. "They are moving through Massachusetts right now. They should meet up with you within 20 minutes."

"Great," Hunter's voice came through the speaker louder and much happier. "And what should we do once they get here?"

Shepherd didn't even hesitate in his work as he replied, "You are to wait until further orders. I don't want any of you moving around without any idea where Parvo is."

"And if we can't find him?"

At Hunter's question, Shepherd felt a great weight land on his shoulders. He sighed before telling the Road Rover's leader, "If Parvo isn't sighted soon, it might mean that he has deviated from his original direction or has gone over the ocean. If that is the case, then it will be impossible to track him now that his ship contains a cloaking device. I don't want to think this way, but if we don't find him soon, he may have won for today."

* * *

Ever since his team had boarded the Sonic Rover and had taken to the sky, Hunter was in constant communication with the others. Their trip (which was immensely shorter than Hunter's) was filled with answering his questions about Milan and the dog fashion show. Blitz was eager to give their leader an ostentatious and lengthy description of his outfit and his part in the show which took up most of the time. However, when all had been told, the golden retriever continued to ask the four cano-mutants questions that ranged from how they were feeling, what they were doing at that time and what the weather was like.

"Poor bloke," Colleen whispered to the three males. "I think Hunty is a little lonely."

"He is acting like busy-body," Exile agreed. "Maybe one of us should join him in Sky Rover."

Shag added his agreement, but the others weren't sure of his exact words. They simply nodded their heads at the sheep-dog's statement as they usually did.

Blitz, on the other hand, blew air through his lips irritatedly. "Hunter will be fine. He's a big strong doggie, not some baby. He's the leader and can handle a few more hours without us." As usual, Blitz talked about Hunter with disdain, but there was also a hint of admiration in his words.

Exile grumpily disagreed with Blitz, starting a small argument between the two.

Colleen seemed to be the only one who noticed the change in Blitz. It was strange to hear the doberman build up Hunter in the same sentence that he tore the leader down. The "running-with-the-pack" instincts comforted her as she realized that Blitz had settling down in his place in their mixed-up group. The German cano-sapien may never stop challenging Hunter as leader of the group, but that was who Blitz was.

As she contemplated the situation, the collie suddenly realized she very much wanted be the one to go with Hunter. Without knowing how the others would react to her enthusiastically volunteering, she withheld her words. Perhaps she could figure out a nonchalant way of getting what she wanted; then perhaps she would finally get to spend some alone time with Hunter.

That thought brought up many feelings that she wasn't ready to face. Ever since she had asked Hunter to go on a walk only a few weeks ago and it didn't turn out how she expected, she had pushed back any feelings regarding the retriever whether they be positive or negative. She was a tough girl, made hard by the streets of London where she grew up. Even if she read Hunter's friendliness toward his invitation for a walk correctly, there was no way she was going to let him hurt her.

She refused to be hurt anymore.

"I'll go with Hunter. It is no good for dog to be alone," Exile offered, standing up from his seat.

Colleen felt both surprised and miffed that Exile volunteered before she did, but she tried not to act it. "I'll find us a landing spot," she said stoically as she watched the monitors. "I'm sure Hunter will enjoy your company, Exile."

As they started to land in an isolated area where they wouldn't be seen, Blitz, as usual, decided to fill the air with his bravado and criticism. "This mission is such a pain. This wouldn't have happened if I was leader. I would have gotten Parvo, and then we wouldn't have to keep looking for him," Blitz bragged. "I guess Hunter wasn't fast enough. Ha ha."

Perhaps it was that she missed her chance to spend some alone time with Hunter, or maybe Blitz was grating on her more than usual, but that comment made Colleen angry.

"Get out of here!"

The sudden shout caused the three males to stop immediately and look at the collie with wide eyes.

Realizing that she was the center of attention, Colleen tried to misdirect the others. "I think you should go with Exile, Blitz," she said in a much more calm voice.

"What?" Blitz asked, his ears sagging, not even noticing that she used his real name for once.

Colleen put on her usual smile and looked at the husky and doberman. "Yes, both of you should go. You can spend some male bonding time with Hunty."

Blitz was about to protest again, but it seemed that Exile was able to pick up something that the doberman couldn't. In fact, Colleen's smile looked a bit menacing.

"Let's go, comrade," Exile said as he pushed the other Rover to the exit.

Colleen quickly turned back to the controls, letting her emotions settle down. She had almost let her emotions for Hunter be known. While she had liked the idea of getting to know Hunter on a personal scale, she had no intention of falling for him.

Was that a contradiction? She wasn't sure.

"Rah rah rah rah rara."

"I know you're a guy too, Shag," Colleen said, her voice steady. She then switched to her usual, silly self. "I just wanted you for myself," she told him with a wink.

Shag gave her a flirty growl before returning to work.

* * *

The Road Rover leader was confused as he followed the Sonic Rover into landing onto the ground. He picked up the radio to question Colleen.

"What's going on, guys?" Hunter asked as he clicked on the intercom.

Colleen's face showed up on the screen, her toothy smile dividing her face. "Oh, I thought I would send over some company for ya, ducky."

At that moment, the doberman pincer, with a look of defiance on his face, entered through the cockpit doors along with the husky.

Hunter only took a moment to see Blitz's disgruntled expression before turning back to Colleen with a smile on his face. "Aw, thanks. That was so sweet of you to think of me," Hunter said congenially.

Due to the area still having a large population, the Road Rovers couldn't stay grounded for long and were soon back in the air, hoovering at a high altitude. Exile had taken the co-pilot's seat and Blitz sat in one of the passenger seats with his arms crossed.

"It looks like we might be waiting for a while," Hunter said, checking his video feed of The Master. The human was still deeply involved in his research. "It's good to see you two. How's everything going?"

"Oh, you know. Another day saving the world. The usual," Exile joked.

Blitz didn't reply but just looked at Hunter with suspicious. He was never sure if his leader was sincere in his comments or just really sarcastic. One of the reasons he kept baiting the golden retriever was to see just how the lighter-colored cano-mutant would react; no matter how much he poked and prodded at Hunter's pride, all Blitz received was good-nature comments. Or hidden insults. It always bothered Blitz how he could sit there and bark endlessly at the Road Rover leader, and all he'd get in return in a lolling tongue and a wagging tail.

"Man, it is so nice being here with you guys," Hunter said happily. "You'd think that a trip to California would be great, but it was just boring."

"At least you had some action," Exile told the golden retriever. "That better than silly doggy fashion show."

"Solo missions are kind of hard," Hunter continued. "It was weird not having everyone there for back-up. I could have used both of you."

"Yeah, if I were there, you wouldn't have failed," Blitz said nonchalantly, forgetting his previous bad mood.

"Failed?" Hunter repeated, his face looking strange as he said the word. Then he became determined. "No, I-we haven't failed yet. We'll find Parvo and get the doctor back. Don't you worry."

"Oh, _ja. _So simple. We just need to search hundreds of miles of airspace, and we'll find them," Blitz sad sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"That's the spirit," Hunter said, looking happy once again. He flipped the switch that turned the microphone on to communicate with The Master. "Have you found anything yet, Master?"

"I think so," The Master said, sounding a little distracted. "I've been listing in on some police dispatcher radio signals, and an old woman in Pennsylvania said she saw a UFO traveling over Philadelphia. It might be Parvo. Just in case, I want only those in the Sonic Rover to check it out. Hunter, you sit on stand-by in case you need to back them up."

"Roger that. We will not fail you, Master," Hunter said in his boldest voice. "Good luck, Colleen. Stay in radio contact."

"See you chaps later," Colleen radioed back.

The Sky Rover was overcome by silence as they watched the little blip on their sensors that represented the Sonic Rover move away from them. Hunter had his eyes locked on the blip while Exile and Blitz looked at their leader with a mixture of confusion and concern.

"Is it just me or is Hunter really serious about mission?" Exile whispered to the doberman.

Blitz shrugged.

Even after being team mates for two years, they didn't know much about each other besides current situations and personality. Everyone seemed to agree silently that talking about their lives as dogs before The Master was something they didn't want. Not to mention, time as cano-sapiens was limited to missions only. Rarely did they had time to just hang out and be themselves. Sure they ate meals together and slept at Headquarters at times, but that was rare since they couldn't be away from their current owners for very long. It didn't give them much time to establish proper relationship among themselves.

It was at times like these when one of their team mates deviated from their usual attitude that they suddenly realized what they were lacking as sentient beings.

"We will find them, Hunter," Exile said as he placed a hand on Hunter's shoulder. "Do not be worry bunion."

Hunter looked disgusted, his momentary seriousness vanished. "Ew, I won't."

With their leader back to his old self, the other cano-sapiens relaxed and fell into their old, familiar rhythm of chatter. Blitz soon forgot about both Hunter's seriousness and Colleen's outburst, but Exile mentally dwelt on the matter much longer. He wondered what would make his companions act different from usual. What would make congenial, sarcastic Colleen so emotional that she yelled like that at Blitz? Why was their happy-go-lucky leader suddenly fired up that he told half the jokes he usually did? Was this coincidental? Did the two have anything to do with each other?

Exile did suspect that Colleen's mood did have something to do with Hunter, but nothing he was completely sure about. But it all seemed to be on Colleen's part, not Hunter's. The golden retriever seemed oblivious of Colleen's small mood changes. But then again, Hunter was oblivious of Blitz's challenges.

But then Exile wondered if the two events weren't coincidental? What if they were connected, but not in the way Exile first thought. Could these changes in their moods not stem from the stress of the mission but something inside them.

It was a scary thought, but one Exile knew to be all too real. Because he could sense change in himself. He enjoyed being a Road Rover, the thrill of saving the day and using his super powers. He loved working as hard as he could and keeping the world safe. But lately, it didn't seem enough to him. For some reason, he felt as if there was something missing in his life, as if something about the way he was was wrong.

It would be the future that would tell if Exile was right, and he was scared of what they might become.

* * *

The second audition went very well, Mira was sure of that. She had not made any mistakes in the routine and was quite sure that one of the judges had smiled at her. She had had her share of dance competitions and was not a stranger to uncertainty in a performance. But this time, her confidence soared as she waited to watch the rest of the girls compete. It wasn't long until everyone was done, and the director said he would make his decision next week. Even though there were over a dozen positions available, it would mean that over seventy girls wouldn't make the cut.

A lot of girls stayed behind to use the showers in the changing room, but Mira didn't go with them. She did not like the idea of driving all the way to New Jersey in sweaty clothes, but she was reluctant to shower in front of the other dancers. She had no fear that someone would see her naked. She was quite confident of her figure and never had a problem with low self-esteem in her looks.

It was her hearing aids that was the problem.

To shower, she had to take the hearing aids out, and she didn't like to do that in front of the dancers. From experience, she knew there were some who would look down on her because she was hearing-impaired. As a young child, she was told that she would never be a good dancer because of her handicap. She hated hearing that, especially when people often said it in her presence since many thought she was completely deaf.

She did not want to see the faces of the other dancers if they found out. She would do anything to keep it a secret. She didn't even tell the director in her application. She'd stay silent until the very end.

The drive home was very uneventful but long. She was stuck in commute as everyone who lived in the suburbs was trying to get out of the city after work. By the time she arrived home, it was late and the sun was an hour away from setting. Her apartment complex was a series of buildings with each building holding four apartments. As she walked along the cement pathway, she could hear dogs barking all around her and, along with those barks, came the psychic vibrations.

_Not dog. Not dog._

_ Strange. Wrong._

_ Bad._

The images and feelings she was receiving from the dogs' minds didn't make sense, and it physically made her feel ill. That sometimes happened if she received too many psychic messages or if the feelings were very strong.

Mira should have been curious about what was going on with the dogs in the apartment complex since she had never experienced so much psychic messages before, but her tiredness was compounded by the sudden illness that she just wanted to make it to her door and collapse on the couch to watch a movie while eating dinner before going to bed.

_Go away! This is mine! Mine!_ the chihuahua from next door yelled out in her head. _Danger!_

At first, her neighbor's dog didn't give her pause. The small canine was very territorial and barked at her every time she came home. But when she felt a bit of fear in the dog's bark, she hesitated putting her key into the door. The eeriness of the situation suddenly hit her, and she listened to the dogs carefully.

_Bad smell._

_ Bad dog._

_ Wrong dogs._

_ Danger!_

If Mira had not hesitated entering her apartment, she might have been alright. Or she may have been too occupied to have heard the footsteps come up from behind. As she felt a presence behind her, Mira tried to turn around but was grabbed and prevented from moving.

"Hold her tightly," an accented woman's voice commanded sharply.

A rag was held against Mira's face as she struggled until she took her first breath. The chloroform entered her lungs, and, immediately, she felt faint and sluggish. Her second breath made the world turn fuzzy, and everything started to spin. With her third breath of the chemical, she closed her eyes and couldn't open them again.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a faint voice called out. "What the. . . What are those?"

That was the last Mira heard before taking her fourth breath and sinking into unconsciousness.

* * *

While waiting in the Sky Rover, the three male cano-sapiens had taken up a game of travel Monopoly. As it turned out, Blitz's aggressive nature made him a natural at the game, and he was ahead of the others with houses on Board Walk and Park Place as well as other properties. Exile had just landed on Park Place.

"Come on, cough up the dough," Blitz said with a business man's grin.

Exile felt his throat. "But I'm not feeling sick."

It was at this time that The Master's voice came over the radio.

"Hunter? Hunter, are you there?"

"What is it? Has Colleen and Shag found Parvo?" Hunter practically tackled the microphone in his eagerness to speak.

"Unfortunately, I believe I sent them in the wrong direction," The Master spoke quickly. "I just overheard a call to the police. A man just reported a group of dog monsters carrying away a young woman in New Jersey only a few minutes ago."

"We're on it," Hunter said as he put in the coordinates that The Master gave him. This time he wouldn't fail. He just hoped he'd get there in time.

"Colleen and Shag will back you up as soon as they can," The Master relayed before the radio went silent.

"Hold on, Rovers," the golden retriever warned his teammates. Just as he punched the nitro button, he heard Blitz give out his usual high scream as they were all pressed into their seats from the high G's.

"This one certainly sounds like Parvo," Exile said slowly, the extreme pressure making it hard to get his words out. "But why girl? What does Parvo want with her?"

"Good question," Hunter mulled over the question. "This certainly has been an unexpected twist."

* * *

Masked and hoovering above the state of New Jersey, Parvo paced inside his airship. He did not like how things were going. Goomer was taking far more time capturing the test subject than he would have liked. The longer she was gone, the more likely it was for her to be spotted, and then the Road Rovers would be on his trail again. Not only that, but the good doctor that was his "guest" was acting more and more agitated as he kept asking to be taken home. Parvo wanted to keep the professor in the dark about the experiment that was being planned and avoid any more questions about the Road Rovers and Shepherd. The patience that Parvo had for Dr. Saraaf was quickly wearing thin.

Luckily, Dr. Saraff was too involved in Parvo's lab to ask too many questions. He was especially fascinated with the flawed cano-mutator that Parvo built from Shepherd's old blueprints. The doctor was preoccupied with equations and redesigning the cano-mutator that he was only reminded of his situation when his dog, Dash, barked incessantly.

Parvo offered to take the dog away to a room with no noise to calm him down, but Saraaf refused to be parted with his pet. Parvo was becoming so irked with the mongrel, he was tempted to throw the beast out. After all, he had the doctor. It would only be a matter of forcing Saraaf to do his will. But it was better to manipulate than coerce, so he put up with the dog's yapping. After all, he couldn't be mad at the dog for displaying that unending loyalty to his master, a trait that had attracted Parvo to the species.

Even though the General felt he was finally getting the upper hand with the Rovers, something about the professor's behavior didn't sit well with him. Dr. Saraaf was acting normal enough, but he seemed uneasy and restless. He acted irritated with Dash, but at the same time was able to ignore the dog's growling. As Dr. Saraaf worked, he would talk to himself in rapid speech, much faster than if he were talking to his dog.

Yes, Parvo was sure that there was something wrong with Dr. Saraaf; he could smell it. The doctor smelled wrong. Saraaf was trying to keep it a secret. But what was the secret?

General Parvo growled at himself, irritated by his powerful sense of smell. Normal humans didn't have that. No, he was human. He hated that he could smell things that other couldn't, but, at the same time, was glad for the extra talent.

Suddenly, there was a beep on the com-unit by the door of the lab. Still keeping an eye on the professor's work, he pressed the answer button. "Finally, Groomer. Is everything. . . secure?"

"Uh, not quite. We have the 'subject' in hand, but we've been spotted," the Groomer said timidly. "I'm afraid the local authorities are on our heels."

Parvo growled at his assistant's words. He glanced back at the professor to see if the man had heard any of their exchange. When he saw that Saraaf was too far involved in his work to have heard, he briskly whispered back, "Don't worry about being seen. Just get back here."

Without even telling Saraaf, Parvo left the lab to go to the bridge where he could give the Groomer back-up if she needed it. It was another inconvenience that he couldn't leave one of his cano-mutants in the lab to stand guard. He was unsure what the doctor would think of the monstrous creations, and it would certainly put a huge hole in his fabricated story.

Once on the bridge, he brought up the tracking devices he had on all his cano-mutants. According to the sensors, the retrieval group was only a mile away. On foot, they should be back in about five minutes without delays. The coming darkness would help conceal them. He readied the weapons system to deal with anyone who stood in his way.

* * *

Surprisingly, it took the Sky Rover less time than Hunter had initially estimated. The cano-mutants had been spotted in a small town just outside of Trenton. But because of Parvo's cloaking device, they wouldn't be able to visibly spot him, something which Exile pointed out.

"I think I have a way around that," The Master spoke through the microphone. "A metal detector should be able to find the ship, even when it's in invisible mode."

"Brilliant," Exile said and started working at the controls to bring the metal detector online. A small blip popped up on the main screen. "There he is. He won't be expecting us, so it'll be like shooting pickles in barrel."

"Why would you shoot pickles?" Blitz asked, confused once again by Exile's colloquialism mix-up.

Exile shrugged and scratched his head. "I don't know. To make sandwich?"

As the two dogs continued to talk about shooting things in barrels, Hunter brought the Sky Rover to a stand still, letting it hover over the small town in a cloud bank. With the sun almost below the horizon, the cloud hid them perfectly.

"Hunter, you're going to let Parvo get away," Blitz whined when he realized they were no longer moving.

The golden retriever just shook his head. "I'm not letting him get away again, which is why we're waiting. Parvo now has two hostages, and I think we need to wait for Colleen and Shag for this one. We can't underestimate him when those humans' lives are on the line."

The seriousness in their leader's voice sobered the other cano-sapiens immediately. They nodded in agreement and waited in silence as they watched the computer's sensors. Exile brought up on the screen the other Rover vehicle's position, and they all patiently watched as the two blips came together.

* * *

Lucky for the local authorities, Parvo did not have to back up the Groomer with the ship's weapon system. He watched from the sensors as a few police cars zipped by with their lights flashing and their sirens screaming as they answered the call of the monster sighting. Soon after the vehicles left, the Groomer and the transformed canines jumped out of some bushes, the body of an unconscious human in one of the cano-mutant's arms. Parvo quickly turned off the cloaking device long enough for the Groomer to find the entrance then turned it off. If anyone happened to see his ship, they would have seen a giant, metal bulldog for a few seconds before it disappeared, which most people would shrug off as fatigue or a trick of the eye.

Once the team was back aboard, Parvo started up the engines and punched the thrusters for a quick take off, leaving behind only a few squashed hedges. Making a quick decision, he programed in a destination for the autopilot to follow before leaving the bridge to meet up with the Groomer.

"Any sign of the Rovers?" the Groomer asked as she guided the cano-mutants to the lab.

"No, not yet," Parvo said, his eyes looking dark and irritated. "You were lucky. What took you so long?"

"The girl wasn't at home," the Groomer complained with pursed lips. "We had to wait in the bushes around her apartments. All the dogs in the area went mad, causing such a stir I thought we'd be caught."

Parvo coughed, the stress of the situation causing his condition to worsen. His assistant offered him the lozenges she kept on her person at all times, and he took one. "Never mind about that. It seems we went unnoticed by Shepard's pets. And where we're going, they won't find us."

"Where?"

"They knew we were heading East, but now we're going South to Mexico," Parvo said with a smile. "Those stupid dogs won't expect us to change directions."

"Very good, General," the Groomer said in a purring voice. "But will you now tell me why you sent me out for this girl. Why do you want her gifts now?"

"Science is a process," Parvo told her grinning. "Sometimes you have to create a shortcut before you can pave the way. Come, let's get this girl ready for the professor before she wakes up."

Directing the obedient cano-mutants to carry the girl into the lab, Parvo and Groomer were far too busy with their captive to realize their mistake.

There was a high shout from Dr. Saraaf before he started screaming at them, "Get away, you monsters. Back." He was assisted by his dog, Dash, who barked and growled threateningly, hackles raised as high as they could go.

It took Parvo a minute before he realized that the professor was talking to the cano-mutants and not to him, seeing the mistake he didn't foresee.

"Calm down, doctor. Everything is okay," the General said in a reasoning tone as he tried to form a palatable lie. "These are not like the monsters you met before. These are Shepherd's earlier experiments that the Groomer and I rescued. They may look vicious, but they are really quite loveable." To prove his point, Parvo patted one on the head with his mechanical hand.

Dr. Saraaf, still keeping his distance, eyed the cocker spanial and dalmation mutants with skepticism, but accepted what the man said. However, Dash wasn't fooled at all and continued to defend his master with his barks and growls.

"Dash, it is alright," the professor said comfortingly, pulling the short dog by his collar away from the cano-mutants. It was at this time that he noticed that the Groomer was tending to a young woman who was lying on a lab table and being restrained by leather straps. "What's going on here?" he asked, his voice deep and demanding answers.

Once again, the General inwardly kicked himself for being so careless. He wasn't used to hiding his dark intentions on his own ship and thought himself invincible. He wondered if he'd be reduced to using force on the doctor to get what he wanted. In hopes he wouldn't have to do that, he summoned up all the cunning he had and turned back to the doctor.

"Why, I'm just getting the test subject ready, just as you asked," Parvo said with a calm smile, walking to the doctor. He had to be careful since Dash turned his menacing growls onto Parvo.

Dr. Saraaf seemed confused instead of angry by this, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache. "Test s-subject?" Dr. Saraaf echoed, looking very nervous. He looked as if he was wondering if this were true. "I didn't ask for a human test subject."

"Of course, you did," Parvo said, laying the honey on thick. He was doing his best to make things sound normal. "Didn't you tell me that it would be easier to use a human first to create the hybrid?"

Dr. Saraaf looked up at the larger man with a befuddled look on his face. His eyes moved back and forth as if searching for the memory. "I did?" he asked, his tone had a hint of recollection. "Yes, I do recall the theory, but I was only talking hypothetically. It wouldn't be ethical to perform the experiment."

"But isn't it your dream, doctor, to use your research to help mankind?" General Parvo asked, persuading the other man to his reasoning. "Think of how much time will be wasted as you go through all the red tape and procedures before you can go to human experimentation. Here, you can bypass all that."

"But I can't," Dr. Saraaf insisted, licking his lips. He was shaking as his resolve started to dissipate. "This girl obviously hasn't volunteered."

"What does she have to complain about?" Parvo said with a shrug. "She'll have better hearing, a better sense of smell. She'll be faster, stronger. Does that sound like you are harming her?"

A part of Dr. Saraaf knew that he was on a slippery slope as he kept listing to what the General had to say, but more and more of him was squelching his conscience. Sweat poured down his face as he thought more and more on this issue.

Saraaf shook his head, the inner turmoil making his head feel fuzzy and achy. Dash's incessant barking wasn't making things better. "Shut up, Dash," he shouted at his dog.

Dash crouched down in shame, his ears sinking and tail hugging his belly.

"I guess what you are saying is right," Dr. Saraaf said, feeling the excitement of what he was about to do growing inside of him. "After all, we won't be doing a complete transfiguration, just a minor one. Just enough to prove my theory. If I'm correct, I'm sure I can reverse it."

Parvo beamed at his guest, patting the doctor on his back. "Excellent doctor. The Groomer will assist you."

Part of Dr. Saraaf knew that he wasn't in the right frame of mind at this time. He needed his medication, and, without it, his judgment was impaired. But part of him wanted to believe General Parvo. It seemed so easy. Nobody would get hurt. The process was completely reversible (in theory). He kept rationalizing his actions, and, soon enough, he had persuaded himself that science would benefit the girl. She was fit, healthy and in excellent condition. She didn't show any sign of using drugs or on any prescriptions. That was best. That meant her blood wouldn't be tainted with any unknown chemicals.

"Here is the canine blood for you to use," the Groomer said after she took a sample from the dalmation mutated creature. "I'm sure the process will be far easier with this treated blood."

"Thank you, m'dear," he said quickly, taking the syringe that was handed to him. However part of him still didn't trust his hosts no matter how anxious he was to work on his theory. Instead of using the blood given to him, he placed the syringe discreetly in his lab coat, making sure the needle was capped.

"I think the girl may be waking up," Dr. Saraaf said to distract the Irish woman.

"Ah, I'll take care of her," the Groomer said in her thick accent.

When the woman had her back to the doctor, Saraaf gently grabbed at Dash, who was sitting out of the way in the corner. With soothing words, he took Dash's paw and quickly drew a blood sample from a vein. Dash didn't squirm or yelp; he was used to having blood drawn.

Before the Groomer turned around again, Dr. Saraaf was back to work, assembling what he needed to treat Dash's blood with nobody the wiser that he switched the samples.

* * *

"Why don't we get them now?"

Hunter's paws were tight on the controls, and his eyes locked onto the screen. They had to be cautious tracking Parvo since their metal detector only had a range of a few hundred feet.

"We need to wait for Shag and Colleen to catch up," Hunter explained. "That's why we're staying out of sight. If he spots us, then we're going to have a chase on our hands. And I'm sure he'll win since we can't see him."

"Which is why we should jump him now," Blitz argued. He had been getting antsy waiting for some kind of action and was now getting aggressive with his words. "If he gets too far away, we'll lose him again."

"Blitz, sit!" Hunter commanded much more tersely than his usual tone. The golden retriever had to really concentrate on his piloting. To escape Parvo's notice, he had to fly much lower than what was considered safe. Not only that, but it was dark, and they had to keep their lights off to stay unnoticed. If he looked away for too long or was slow to react, they could run into an obstacle. "Exile, why don't you calculate how long it will take for Colleen to catch up."

"You got it, comrade," Exile said with a salute. He contacted the Sonic Rover to get Colleen's speed and position before plugging in the numbers into the computer. A few minutes later he gave the answer. "They will be meeting up with us in roughly one hour. Map says that we'll be over U.S. border by then."

"Looks like we're heading south of the border, Rovers," Hunter said, some of his usual humor back. "Let's get them."

* * *

It was eerie how easily it was for Dr. Saraaf to work. Even with the niggling voice in his head telling him to stop, he was able to calculate equations far more deftly than before. This sometimes happened when he went into a mania. Even Dash's whimpering didn't dissuade him from his mission.

With microscope and petri dish, the professor worked like a fiend with a plan as he treated Dash's blood. He mixed a chemical solution with the blood that would make it more receptive to the small amount of radiation that would trigger the fusion and mutation. The small lab surprisingly had everything he needed, including the right type of radiation that the blood would be suffused in. It was almost done. Just a few more minutes.

Then the ship rocked, and there was a loud explosion as an alarm blared, making him jump and almost dropping his work. Cradling the serum that he had just mixed in the vortex mixer, he watched as the Groomer left the room with the cano-mutants. They didn't say anything to him.

What was going on? Was there an emergency?

Not that he could be bothered with that. Ignoring the loud klaxons, he went over to the girl that was still belted onto the lab table. Her dark skin looked sallow from the chloroform. He noticed that her breathing was starting to increase, indicating that she was about to wake.

She was so young, the same age as his students. At that thought, he almost turned back. His heart went out to the eager minds that always stayed after class to ask probing questions.

But if everyone followed the way of the heart, there would never be any progress.

First, the professor administered a pain-killer to the girl. It wasn't a large dose, and the prick of the needle made the girl jump in her sleep that proved she would soon be awake. The changes she'd go through would be very painful, so the drug would be a blessing, but it wouldn't block out all the pain. He couldn't give her too much, or it might interfere with the experiment.

Then he gave her the serum.

* * *

"What's happening? What is it?" the Groomer asked once she was back on the bridge.

"It's those accursed Rovers," Parvo replied hoarsely as he tried to keep the ship from rocking. "They're in two ships and came from below. They shot a few missiles, but they intentionally missed our engines. They're trying to cripple us to get us to land."

"How did they find us?" the Groomer shouted.

"I don't know. Shepherd must have figured it out," Parvo spat out the name of his nemesis.

"What do we do, General?"

"Shoot back, what else? Get to the weapon's panel."

The Irish woman moved to the weapon's controls, and her fingers danced across the buttons. "Weapons are down, General."

"Blast it. They knew exactly where to shoot," the man shouted, pounding his mechanical fist against the console. "Gather the cano-mutants. I can't stop them from coming aboard. Do not let them get the professor!"

* * *

The two Road Rover vehicles each took a side of Parvo's bulldog ship. Lasers cut into the steel skin, and two doorways were created. Over a mile above the Earth, three cano-sapiens jumped from the Sky Rover to Parvo's vehicle.

"But how do we get back to the ship," Blitz asked as the autopilot steered the ship away from Parvo's.

"I guess we don't," Hunter said with a confident shrug. "This is it, guys. This may be the day we take Parvo down. There's nowhere for us or him to go."

That in itself caused the other two to get their spirits raised up. But they had to meet up with Colleen and Shag, who were on the other side of the ship.

"Are you aboard, Colleen?" Hunter asked through his collar's communication device.

"Right-O, Hunty. And company's arrived," her voice came through loud and clear.

"We're on our way."

"I'll make tea."

The three males burst through the first door they found, and on the other end was three cano-mutants, a chihuahua, a bulldog, and a terrier, each a dog breed that should have been ten times smaller than what they were now.

"One for each of us," Exile commented with a smile.

"I'll take the cute one," Hunter said and aimed a punch at the bulldog.

"But that would be me," Blitz joked as he knocked the legs from under the terrier.

The three made quick work out of those cano-mutants before five more came after them, these ones with laser weapons.

"Time to move on," Hunter said, finding another door to escape from the enemies. After going through, he held the door closed with Blitz while Exile found something to prop it.

"Whew, that was close."

Suddenly, it was as if cano-mutants were popping out of everywhere. Enlarged anthropomorphic dogs sprang out of anything that could hide one.

"Talk about out of pot and into fire," Exile said softly, his eyes wide.

"What do we do?" Blitz asked, his voice starting to tremble. "It looks like Parvo's entire army is here."

"Yes, it does. That's how important Dr. Saraaf is," Hunter said with a nod. "We will save him, Rovers. We can do this."

The Cano-mutants converged on the three; outnumbered, the cano-sapiens started fighting for their lives. Their larger opponents were dragging them down; the attack as vicious as it comes. They were completely overwhelmed when a door burst open.

"Get 'em, Shag!" Colleen's war-yell reverberated through the ship from the doorway.

The white sheep dog pulled out a bazooka, almost out of thin air, and started aiming it at anything that moved. Even though it was only loaded with tennis balls, the cano-mutants still scrambled over each other to get away. Those tennis balls could leave behind some nasty welts.

"Whew, thanks Colleen. I thought we had it there," Hunter said as he picked himself up from the floor. He wiped his mouth, and his hand had blood on it.

"Anything for you, Hunt-hunt," she said, giving him a strange new nicknamed.

Now with Parvo's goons in a panic, the Road Rovers fell upon their opponents with renewed strength, all of them finally together. Normally, they would fight while holding back; after all, the cano-mutants were only being used by the General. But this day, they would not be restrained. The odds were against them, and, they knew, it wasn't just the professor's life at stake. Their own were on the line, and this mission was far more dangerous than the others.

With tooth and nail, they fought, pushing themselves to the limits. Hunter had the worst of it since his super powers were not very useful in such a small space, and he feared hurting his teammates as well. But even though they were outnumbered, they knew how to work as a team and aided each other. One by one, the larger cano-mutants fell, unconscious but alive.

When the fighting was over, they looked around the room. There were three doors, one that Hunter's group came through, and another Collen and Shag had entered. One door left.

"Let's see what's behind door number three," Hunter said and kicked the door opened.

Parvo and the Groomer were waiting just on the other side, their remaining cano-mutants by their sides. Nearby, Dr. Saraaf stood behind the counter of a small lab with his back turned. He only bothered to look up once before returning to whatever he was doing. There was no sign of the girl.

The Road Rovers were already exhausted from fighting this whole way. Hunter could see the injuries his team mates had sustained. Colleen had a cut over her forehead that was dripping down her face. Exile's nose was leaking blood, and he was favoring his left leg. Blitz's knuckles on both hands were bleeding and swollen, and he held his stomach as if he hurt his ribs. Shag was missing handfuls of fur, his mouth dripped foam and blood. As for Hunter, he also felt as if he had a couple of ribs broken along with other injuries.

"If you give up now, Rovers, I promise I'll return you to your master in one piece," Parvo scoffed at them.

"Say what you like, Parvo," Hunter shouted back. "But we came to get the professor and the girl, and we're not leaving without them."

"Try if you can, dog," the General growl.

Just before the two sides readied themselves for their clash, they were interrupted by a piercing and agonizing scream.

* * *

(Author's notes: For those of you who didn't guess it, Dr. Saraaf is bipolar. I would like the audience to know that with some bipolars, if they go into a manic state, they can make decisions they wouldn't normally make. Do not assume this is true for everyone who is bipolar. The disorder is different for everyone. I also want to make it clear that it isn't just the disorder that determines Dr. Saraaf's decisions; part of it is his personality. He is the type to push rules to their limits, but normally wouldn't go this far. I intend to go further in depth about this in later chapters. All my information about bipolar disorders come from research on the Internet. If I get any of my facts wrong, please let me know. Thank you.)


	3. Chapter 3: Plans Go Down in Flames

Half-Breed

Chapter 3: Plans Go Down in Flames

By Emilou

After being knocked out by the strange woman and the dog monsters, Mira's next conscious moment was waking up groggy from the drugs. She could see that she was in a lab or hospital of sorts from the smell of bleach and chemicals, but it didn't feel right. She moaned as she tried to swallow. Her mouth was dry, and her throat and lungs burned. Her mind was fuzzy, and she barely could recall her last memories. As she tried to sit up, she felt leather straps on her wrists and chest preventing her from moving.

"Wha?" she tried to speak with a heavy tongue. Lifting her legs, she could feel more restraints below.

"I think the girl may be waking up," a male voice said from a few feet away.

Mira focused her eyes in that direction and saw a man and a woman standing next to each other. The man was in a white lab coat and looked to be of Indian descent by his dark skin and hair. The woman wore a gray, black and red costume with a metal helmet.

"Ah, I'll take care of her," the woman said in an Irish accent, a voice that Mira vaguely remembered.

When the woman came to Mira's bed side, she realized the woman was the one who attacked her. In the woman's hand was an IV needle. Mira struggled to get away, but her body was sluggish and weak.

"No," she protested, all muscles tense.

"Hush, m'dear," the woman said in a falsely sweet voice. "This will put you back to sleep. Once you wake, you'll make the General very happy."

Mira couldn't stop her as the woman pierced her vein with the needle and hooked up a bag with who knew what kind of drugs. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She had watched cop shows on TV often enough; many episodes showed people being kidnapped and used for all sort of purposes. Mira neither thought it could ever happen to her, nor could she ever image that she would be in such a horrible and bizarre situation.

The drugs worked fast, and soon Mira couldn't keep her eyes open. But despite that, she was aware of her other senses, especially her sense of smell and hearing. Perhaps the IV wasn't in correctly, or the wrong concoction of drugs were used, or maybe Mira's body processed the drugs faster than usual. Whatever the reason, Mira's mind remained sharp enough for her to make a guess what was going on.

She could hear alarms going off in the background, footsteps running from one area to another, and a dog barking.

_Farid, let's go home._ _This is a bad place. The people here are not friends._

Mira was surprised for two reasons. First that there was a regular dog here, and not one of the monster dogs that she had seen. Second, the messages she was sensing from him with her sixth sense was much more clear than other canine's thoughts.

_Help me,_ she called to the dog with her mind. Doing so caused her to feel dizzy, even with her eyes closed.

There was the sound of some whining, and a dog's cold, wet nose against her hand.

"No, Dash. Get down," the man in the lab coat said.

She heard the nails of the dog against the floor and some more whining.

"What did that woman give her?" The man's voice sounded angry.

The IV was pulled out of her arm, and a bandage was quickly administered to stop the bleeding.

"What was she thinking? Anesthetics this powerful could ruin the serum," the man grumbled.

There was the sound of things rustling around, and drawers opening and closing.

"Here, this won't hurt," he said, as if talking to her. "In fact, this might make the changes more comfortable."

_Changes? What changes?_ Mira asked the dog frantically.

_I don't know. Farid is giving you a shot. It will make you feel better,_ the dog told her with confidence.

_A shot?!_ Mira screamed in her head. There was a sharp pain in her other arm, and a numbing sensation spread through her entire body. The combination of the anesthetic and the pain-killer that was just given to her made her feel like she was floating, and she felt a little nauseous.

"What is this?" the man asked, his fingers at her ears. He fingered her hearing-aid, pulling it out.

_No,_ Mira shouted soundlessly. The ear that the hearing-aid was removed from suddenly went very quiet. That ear could pick up some sounds, but they sounded muffled and inaudible. She hoped that he would not look for other one, or she would be completely deaf.

There was some prodding with an instrument in her ear canal which was a familiar feeling that an otoscope was being used.

"Hmmm, ear drums look fine, so it's not because of injury. Most likely genetic," the man said to himself. "You won't need this any more."

That statement made her more panicky than ever. Sure, she totally won't need them if she was dead!

Her stress level heightened as she felt him prod at her other ear and remove her second hearing-aid. Then everything went almost completely silent. Any noise that her ears were able to pick up sounded far away, indistinguishable.

Since she was too weak to open her eyes, she was both blind and deaf. It would have been enough for her to panic and violently throw herself against her restraints, even to the point of harming herself if it wasn't for the combination of the drugs numbing her body and paralyzing her. Worse enough, the drugs weren't powerful enough to throw her into unconsciousness once more.

_What is going on?_ she called out to the dog, her only line to the world.

_Farid is going to make you better_, the dog's "voice" told her. _I do not like it here. Bad smells. Bad people. Monsters._

_ Please help me get free. I'm scared,_ Mira pleaded.

She heard whining in her mind before the dog said, _I cannot. Farid wouldn't like it. Do not be scared. My master is good._

_But he is with the bad people,_ Mira argued, trying to get more information out of the dog. _Why is he working with them?_

Mira's mind was touched with confusion and worry that the dog was feeling. She came to the conclusion that the loyalty of the dog may have impaired what judgment the canine had. She tried to contact the dog again, but he ignored her please.

_I want to go home. I do not like it here, _was all he would say for a while. But then his emotions became more curious. He then told her, _You will be given a shot. Do not worry, it is good for you. It was good for me. It made me better._

_What?! _Mira shouted psychically to the dog. _I'm not sick. I don't want it. Please, don't let him give it to me!_

_ Calm down. Everything will be okay. It is good shot,_ the dog continued to assure her.

Soon, there was a sharp pinch in her arm, feeling far more painful than a usual shot. From the point of the pinch, her flesh started to feel hot, as if her blood were burning her veins. The sensation went down into her bones, spreading all over her body. Even with her body numb, she could still feel the pain.

Perhaps the drugs started to wear off or the new shot negated their affects, but she seized control over part of her body and started to scream as her heart felt like it was pumping molten rock.

Within this moment, she opened her eyes for a second and saw something that couldn't be. Something was growing all over her bare arms, and her fingernails were darkening and getting longer, thicker.

Then the pain completely consumed her until it was more than she could bear, and she slipped into the horrible darkness of unconsciousness.

* * *

Dr. Farid Saraaf watched the girl writhe and bend under the pain from the changes the serum was making to her body. She was unconscious, but her body still reacted to the pain. He was so enthralled by the changes that was happening to the girl, he didn't even notice the team of super powered cano-sapiens engage in battle with Parvo and his thugs.

While his heart thumped with excitement at what he was doing, he also felt the dread of what he had done. He knew that his actions were wrong, but he was eager to see the outcome.

In the end, his conscience won out.

He pulled out a second syringe, one that would negate and reverse what he had done. Before he could administer the needle, a strong arm held him back.

"What do you think you're doing, professor?" General Parvo muttered suspiciously.

"The girl is suffering. I didn't think the serum would cause this much pain," Saraaf argued.

"Then give her something for the pain," Parvo insisted.

Saraaf growled. "Introducing anything else in her system could be lethal."

"Could be?"

"I am a scientist, not a murderer. There is a reason we experiment on animals first before humans," Saraaf muttered agitatedly. "I should never have listened to you."

"Yet you did. And now you're in too deep," Parvo whispered with a leering grin. He took the syringe from the doctor and threw it, the glass smashing against the floor. The large man then left the professor to help his cano-mutants against the Road Rovers.

Farid Saraaf put his hands on the table next to the girl and clenched his fists as tight as he could, more angry at himself than at Parvo. It seemed the General had finally shown his true colors. But even still, Saraaf's muddled thoughts tried to rationalize everything. The girl was, after all, unconscious. It was doubtful she would remember anything during the change. He could reverse the process later.

Dash sidled up to his side and whined, which he stopped once a hand was placed on his head.

All thoughts of Parvo left the professor once the major changes of the girl's body begun. He could not look away as the fruits of his labor finally manifested.

* * *

The screaming persisted for only half a minute, but it seemed longer as the canines felt the pain that was vocalized in the scream, as if they could feel the agony inside them as well. It was more than a mere scream. It went deeper than just their eardrums; it was inside their heads, echoing. Even when the screams died down, the ship remained in an eerie silence. The mutated, monster dogs kept silent, crouching with their tails between their legs, while the Road Rover found each other with their wide eyes.

Hunter turned to Colleen and saw her eyes filled with fear and worry, a mirror of his own he was sure.

"That was a girl's scream," she said softly, breaking the silence.

"Parvo," Hunter growled, turning to their arch enemy. "What have you done to the girl?"

Parvo laughed cruelly, not even shaken by the screaming. "Something very special," he answered mysteriously. "Thanks to the good doctor."

The fight continued, both sides wounded but not down yet. The Road Rovers, with the memory of the screams in their minds, fought more intensely against the larger number of the cano-mutants.

Exile, using his ice and heat beams to damage the monster dogs' weapons, was able to get close enough to spy Dr. Saraaf, thanks to back-up by Blitz. "I see him," he called to his companions as he punched a drooling, mutated jack russel terrier in the face. "Doctor! We come to rescue you. We must escape."

But the human, who had his back to the husky, didn't turn around. He seemed to be entranced by something on the table before him.

Before Exile could convey any of this information back to his leader, the ship shook so violently many of the beings on board fell to the floor.

"What was that?" Blitz shouted, holding onto a mutated poodle for support, unaware of the creature snarling at him.

"Oopsie, that might have been my fault," Colleen said carelessly.

"Oopsie?" Hunter repeated confused.

Colleen smiled sheepishly. "I forgot to mention, Shag and I may have accidentally smashed the control panel while we were in the cabin," she told him.

"What?!" Parvo and the Groomer shouted together.

"Oh, don't worry, duckies. The autopilot is still on" Colleen reassured everyone. "Wouldn't want to crash, now would we?"

Hunter smiled kindly. "Aw, how considerate of you," he told the female.

"But that's just what we're going to do," the Groomer shouted with a bit of panic. She was near one of the doors and was pressing some buttons on the intercom. "The autopilot is damaged. We're loosing altitude."

Hunter's ears went down slightly. "Bummer."

Not long after he said that than the nose of the plane took a steep dive downward, causing most to slide to one wall.

Blitz screamed as he dug his elongated claws into the metallic floor to prevent himself from following the others. Besides him, Parvo and Dr. Saraaf were the only ones to grab something to prevent themselves from sliding.

Exile, who found himself underneath Shag and a hound cano-mutant, shouted to Hunter, "We must correct plane or we all go kaput-sky."

"How?" Hunter asked, looking quite comfortable since he was standing with one foot on the floor and the other on the wall.

The husky looked around and spotted an intercom near the doorway nearby. "Get me to that intercom. I can slash and hack it, hopefully to contact Sky Rover."

"Cool," Hunter complimented. "But there's nobody on the Sky Rover."

"There is autopilot. I can communicate with computer from here. Maybe."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Hunter asked heroically.

"Mainly for Shag to get off my legs," Exile grumbled, pushing the large sheep dog as best he could. "He has made my feet go unconscious."

Shag grinned and spoke a grunt that sounded similar to "Sorry," before removing himself and the cano-mutant off of Exile.

Exile and Hunter scrambled to the door, stepping on the prone forms of their enemies. Exile quickly removed the cover of the intercom and started removing wires. "I will need this, as well," the husky said, quickly pulling off Hunter's collar.

"Ah, I feel so naked," Hunter gasped while covering his neck.

Using the communication device in Hunter's collar, Exile started trying to make a connection to the Sky Rover by hacking into Parvo's computer system through the intercom.

"Stop them," Parvo shouted from where he was hanging onto a wall fixture by his mechanical hand. "Do not let them contact their ship."

"If you don't, we'll all die," Hunter yelled back. "Is that what you want?"

Parvo considered this before sneering. "If that is what it takes to be rid of you, then so be it."

"Road Rovers, protect Exile," Hunter called to his team as he raced to keep some cano-mutants from standing up.

The fight commenced, even on the uneven ground. Blitz, in a good position near the General, pried out his claws and launched himself at Parvo, who could only fight back with his one free hand. Colleen and the Groomer were tussling together while Shag merely sat on a large pile of cano-mutants, batting others away with his large paws. Hunter stayed by Exile's side, keeping all cano-mutants from attacking the husky while he worked.

Within a few minutes, the floor leveled out, causing everyone to loose their footing only slightly this time.

"Alright, Exile. Good dog," Hunter complimented while kicking a monster poodle.

"No, not good, Hunter," Exile disagreed.

"What's wrong?" Hunter asked and noticed how the floor still slanted downward and was trembling violently. He could hear a deep moaning deep in the ship, high and metallic.

"We have just jumped from grill into fire," Exile shouted. "We still crashing. And worse still, Sky Rover can't hold up Parvo's ship. Pressure is going to break it apart."

"Oh, flea collar," Hunter cursed, and the plane dropped a couple of meters in the air suddenly.

"We must leave," Exile told his leader. "I have Sky Rover in place. We need to board it soon."

"But we haven't rescued the civilians," Hunter said worriedly. It was then that he looked around the room.

In all the commotion, the Road Rover leader spied Blitz flat on the ground, not moving. Hunter and Exile rushed to the doberman.

"Blitz, what happened? Where's Parvo?" Hunter demanded.

Blitz groaned, but didn't say anything. He was bleeding from a fresh head-wound.

Hunter checked where he last saw the doctor in the area that looked like a small laboratory. Sure enough, Parvo was with Saraaf. The General looked to be carrying a body covered in a sheet which Hunter assumed was the girl. He was pulling the doctor toward one of the exits.

"Okay, here's the plan," Hunter quickly decided. "We'll go after Parvo together. I'll distract him, and you grab the girl. Then get everyone to the Sky Rover. I'll follow with the professor. You got it?"

"Dokie-okie, Hunter," Exile saluted seriously. Then he clasped his leader on the shoulder. "We must be quick. We only have minutes until crash."

Hunter nodded and rushed toward Parvo, who had opened up another door and was escaping into another section of the ship. Hunter followed, shouting, "Parvo! Let him go," Hunter shouted as he ran full force toward the General.

Since the man's hands were occupied, the Road Rover didn't have any trouble knocking him to the ground. Parvo was able to keep a hold of Dr. Saraaf's arm, but the body on his shoulders rolled away from him. Quickly, he picked himself up and ran, pulling his captive with him.

Exile finally caught up and stood by his side.

"There's the girl, Exile. Take her and go," Hunter ordered the husky.

Seeing the General still escaping, Exile looked like he would argue but shut his maw before a word could escape. He carefully picked up the wrapped body and ran back to the other Road Rovers.

Hunter didn't waste any time before rushing Parvo again, hoping to separate the two men from each other. But no matter how many times he hit the large man, Parvo wouldn't let go of Saraaf. Instead, the villain maneuvered the professor in front of him, so more often than naught, Hunter had to stop before hurting the civilian.

"You're a coward, Parvo," Hunter growled at the General as he stood in front of his nemesis.

"A dog would call tact cowardice," Parvo sneered from behind his hostage. "But that is what I expect from one of Shepherd's pets. He really has taught you no discipline."

"Shut up," Hunter said, not knowing how Parvo's words were affecting him.

"If you were a real dog, you would have retrieved the good doctor here back at the college," Parvo continued to jeer. "Imagine Shepherd's disappointment when you return to him empty-handed once again."

"That won't happen," Hunter shouted. He started to circle around Parvo, but the General kept Saraaf between himself and Hunter.

"Won't it. Look how much you've messed up so far," Parvo continued on. He could sense that for once, he was getting under Hunter's skin. This was a pleasing surprised to be able to crack that usual happy-go-lucky exterior of the Road Rover leader. "Shepherd wouldn't be pleased, not at all. He'll be very angry."

"No, he won't," Hunter said louder than before.

"And what will he do once you return a failure?" Parvo asked, enjoying his cajoling. "Perhaps a rolled up newspaper?"

Hunter cringed on the inside, his snarl starting to fade and his tail lowering. Realizing what he was doing, he tensed back up.

"Lock you up? Tie you to a tree?" Parvo continued to prod with his questions. "Or perhaps he'll decide you just aren't worth the effort anymore?"

"No," Hunter shouted almost unconsciously, past memories rising up inside him.

"Yes, he would," General Parvo whispered darkly, seeing the effects his words had on the golden retriever. "There are some dogs who are nonredeemable."

"That's not true," Hunter yelled at the man, a growl rising in his throat.

"After all the changes and super powers and silly little quips," Parvo told the Road Rover, coming to the climax of his goading, "underneath all that, you are,. . ."

"Shut up!" Hunter shouted, knowing what the general would say.

". . .just a very. . ."

"Shut up!" Hunter yelled, covering his ears.

". . .bad dog."

Those last two words echoed in Hunter's mind, going deeper and deeper until it mingled with another voice. Hunter's eyes snapped opened and locked onto Parvo, not really in control of his own body. With primeval strength, he raced at the sneering man with snarling teeth. It was as if his mind had switched off, feelings from his puppy-hood taking over everything.

Just when Hunter was about to leap onto the object of his anger, Parvo turned to the side, quickly pressing a button that opened one of the ship's airlocks. Out tumbled the unknowing Hunter, his mind still consumed by his intense feelings as he fell toward the ground several thousand feet below.

On the ship, Parvo carefully watched from the airlock as the spinning form of Hunter slowly fell behind the racing ship. He smiled, hoping that it would be a rough landing for the speedster.

But he didn't smile for long as a horrible twisting sound and a rumble caused himself and the doctor to fall to their knees. The pressure of the Sky Rover trying to keep Parvo's ship from crashing had done enough damage. The bulldog shaped craft started to break to pieces.

* * *

The husky didn't waste any time. Once he had his orders, he high-tailed it out of there with the girl on his shoulders. The ship was shaking more than ever, and Exile knew that even the metal structure couldn't stay together for long. He had to get the others back to the Sky Rover and hope Hunter would follow.

Once back in the fray of battle, Exile noticed a difference in the atmosphere. Many of the cano-mutants were either unconscious or were cowering in the corners rather than fighting the other Road Rovers. They knew that the ship was going down. Their canine instincts were kicking in and trying to preserve them. The few that were still fighting had rallied around the Groomer and had Colleen and Shag pinned down behind some debris.

Not wanting to risk the girl he was carrying, Exile quickly looked around for something to distract the Groomer and her underlings. Above the villains, the husky spotted the small, metal sprinkler in case of fire. He focused his heat vision on the sprinkler until it started spraying liquid to quench flames that weren't there.

Just as Exile had hoped, the water caused both the mutants and the Groomer distress enough that they stopped firing at Colleen and Shag.

"Come, comrades, we must leave ship," Exile called to his team mates, using his one free arm to gesture to follow him. "Grab weird boy while you at it,"

The two didn't hesitate to sprint after the husky; Shag managed to scoop up the large doberman in his furry arms while still running, following after Colleen.

"Where's Hunty?" Colleen asked as she caught up to Exile.

Since he was in the lead, Exile tried to keep them moving through the ship. "He went after professor," he explained. "He'll come soon, I hope. We must leave ship now. It is going down in ball of fire."

"Cooooool," Colleen tried to keep up her usual levity, but it didn't seem as heart-felt without Hunter there.

The group stopped suddenly as a large rumble that could only be an explosion shook the ship so hard that all were knocked off their feet. The ship pitched to the side, and, somewhere in front of them, smoke billowed all over, flames creeping toward them.

Without thinking, Exile started using his ice vision to keep the flames at bay.

Shag barked and whimpered a question at Exile, holding tightly onto Blitz.

"Ship is breaking apart," Exile answered Shag's question.

"How do we get back to the Sky Rover?" Colleen shouted, now starting to look worried.

"Through there," Exile said, pointing to the flames. He had to stop his ice beam as the smoke reached his lungs and he coughed violently. "Get back, everyone. We can't go this way."

Shag back-pedaled as quickly as he could, creating a large distance between himself and the other two Road Rovers.

At this moment, the ship shook even harder than before, and the sound of twisting metal was so loud, it hurt the sensitive canine ears. The ship jerked again and again. Both the horrible sounds and the constant movement bombarded the Road Rovers' senses, and they could only grab onto the nearest object and hang on for dear life.

Another explosion went off practically at their feet, causing more metal to split apart and tear the ship apart. Within seconds, they all felt the feeling of free falling and intense wind whipping around them as the ship broke into several pieces.

One of those pieces contained Colleen, Exile, and the girl wrapped in the sheet. Exile had to grab onto part of the ship as open air appeared in front of him. It took all of his strength to hold onto the girl while keeping his grip onto the ship. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Colleen doing the same thing, her body flapping like a flag.

Quickly, he looked for Shag and Blitz, but they weren't nearby. Out in the darkening sky, he could see other pieces of the ship falling toward green earth. One of those pieces, he thought he could see a white figure clinging to the metal, his sharp ears picking up Shag's howl for help.

But they all needed help. And there was no one to save them.

* * *

During the time the Road Rovers and General Parvo's crafts had met and the two sides battled, the vehicles traveled far out of the United States. The day had also been spent and as Parvo's ship started to break apart, the sun was setting and the sky darkening which allowed many inhabitants of smaller countries to see the flaming pieces of metal falling to the earth. It was only in one small village in Guatemala that the residents saw the fires falling from the sky into green jungle.

Everyone within range watched as the balls of fire fell into the jungle, too far away for any of them to go investigate this night. Many stayed to watch to see if large clouds of smoke would flare up to indicate the spreading of fire while a few went to the small law enforcement office to tell their one officer.

_"Es incre__í__ble."_

_ "__¿__Que est__á__ pasando?"_

_ "Hay fuego cayendo del cielo!"_

_ "__¿Los americanos nos atacan?"_

_ "No _sé. _No creo."_

While a small amount of panic did set in the residents, they, for the most part, remained calm and diligent as they watched for danger in any form, even in the increasing darkness. As for the officer, he used his phone, which was the only one within hours of the village. If something else happened and he had to go for help, he owned a simple mo-ped that could only go twenty miles per hour on the narrow, mountain paths to the nearest large city that was five hours away. Until then, he waited for his fellow villagers to keep watch and continue to inform him.

As for his call, he managed to contact a man in an enforcement station in Guatemala City. He related what the villagers saw and asked if anyone else reported it. In the capital, they were completely clueless to the incident, but said they would pass on the information to the correct person.

The single officer had no confidence that it would. They were too far away for anyone in the big city to notice, even if aliens decided to attack their village. For now, he closed up his office and went out to see if anyone needed his help. After all, in their remote village, they only had each other to look after.

* * *

The crash was rough and sudden, as most crashes are. The shock of the wreck is what kept Exile laying on his side for so long, but it was the heat of the encroaching flames that encouraged him to get up. As he stood, his main thoughts were of the miracle that he had survived, which led him to wonder who else survived.

While his mind was dizzy from the horrible experience and his many, but minor, injuries, he faintly recalled who he was with at the time of the wreck. Laying on the ground, not far from where he had lain, he saw the sheet the girl was wrapped in, which was consequently on fire. His rescue training kicked in, and he quickly snatched the girl out of harm's way, carrying her far away from the dangers of the crashed ship.

Exile had a vague impression that they had landed in a sort of jungle and that the dark shadows all around indicated that night had fallen, but he didn't dwell on that for long.

"Please be living. Please be living," Exile murmured a prayer as he placed the girl on the ground far away from the flames and started to unwrap her. The light from the terrible fires was enough to help him see the form as he removed the sheet.

And he stopped and stared.

She was dressed in a dance leotard with a limp, cloth tutu. But it wasn't her strange clothing that caught his attention.

She was a mutated canine, but not like the cano-mutants that were Parvo's henchmen. She looked like a cano-sapien, an unlikely scenario he never thought he would see.

She had a medium length pointed snout with sharp pointed ears. Her fur was a mixture of grays, light gray framing her face, throat and hands, a darker gray covering the rest. Her hair was raven black with light gray tips.

For a few minutes, he could only watch her as his mind tried to process this new information. He reached down and cupped one of her cheeks as if to check to see if she were real.

At the touch, she opened her lips and let out a soft moan.

That brought him out of his trance. He stood up quickly, still not knowing what to do with the strange turn of events. Instead of dwelling on the new cano-sapien, he placed the sheet over her body and turned back to the crash.

Where were his team mates?

Even with his fuzzy memories, he knew that most of the Road Rovers weren't in the same part of the ship as he had been, but Colleen had been by his side during the fall. But where was she now? He went back to the spot he had woken up from, but there was no sign of his companion.

Using his ice vision, he started putting out the flames. He had made some progress when he found a body within the debris. Frightened for the collie, he doubled his efforts of putting out the flames. When he had cleared a path to the body, he discovered that it wasn't Colleen, but one of Parvo's cano-mutants. It wasn't moving.

Upon closer inspection, the cano-mutant was severely burned with multiple injuries. Exile checked for a pulse and found none.

"Sleep well, comrade," Exile told the mutated dog, touching its chest tenderly as he would a friend.

Even though the creatures were the servants of Parvo, Exile knew they were not at fault. In the past, he held little pity for the cano-mutants, especially since they often captured the General's soldiers and were able to reverse the mutation. But this time, it was too late.

The husky couldn't help but think of who this canine had been before Parvo had sadistically changed his genes. Was he in a pet shop or shelter waiting to be adopted? Did he belong to a child? Was there a family somewhere waiting for their faithful pet to return? Were there missing posters of this dog hanging on telephone poles for everyone to see, slowly fading from exposure to the elements?

Carefully and reverently, the husky dragged the body away from the wreck where it wouldn't be harmed any more by the flames. He moved it close to the girl, but not too close. When he neared her, he wanted to go look at her some more, just to check to see that he hadn't imagined her appearance.

He did, just in case. She was still there, and still a cano-sapien.

Exile continued his work, worrying over his fellow Road Rovers. His worries increased as he found two more cano-mutant bodies, both dead. These he dragged to the first he found.

"Exile!"

Ears perked at the sound of his name, sensitive enough to know that the voice carried from a distance. He moved away from the ship as his name was called over and over again. Finally he spotted the origins of the voice, high in the trees.

"It is good to see you have survived, comrade Colleen," he shouted up into the trees where she was sitting in a twist of branches and vines. "I was worried for your safety."

"A little more worse for wear though," Colleen admitted. "I fell out, but luckily I was close to the ground. However, I'm sort of in a sticky mess here."

"Hang around a while. I will get you down," Exile told her as he squinted in the fading light.

Colleen furrowed her eyebrows. "How? Hold on, are you doing your laser thingy?" she asked nervously.

"Stop worming or I might hit you," Exile shouted up at her, trying to concentrate.

"I don't think that's a good idea. It's too daaaaaaaaaaaaark," she tried to reason with the husky, but, in mid-sentence, the vines she was sitting on snapped. She didn't fall far before strong arms caught her.

"Oh, my hero," she told Exile with a big grin and batted her eyes at him.

"Is nothing," Exile told her, giving her an embarrassed grin. He was a sucker for compliments.

When Exile let her down, Colleen took a look around at the trees now that she was on the ground. "Where are we? Florida?" she asked as she inspected the tropical plants.

"No, we much farther than that. We aren't in United States," Exile explained.

"So, maybe Mexico?"

The husky shrugged. "I did not see coordinates before plane went down. Your guess is as good as mine."

The collie pursed her lips together, an obviously worried look on her face. "Any sign of the others?"

"Have not had chance," Exile admitted. "I've been looking for you and taking care of girl."

Colleen's ears went up in a sign of alertness. "Oh, the girl. Is she okay?"

Exile's expression unconsciously became worried. "Oh, she is okay. She is unconscious."

Colleen knew there was a "but" in there, and waited for it. When it didn't come out of Exile's mouth, she helped it along. "But. . ." she started.

Exile grimaced. "It's. . .She's. . . You must see for yourself," he insisted.

Curious at Exile's lack of description, Colleen followed the husky to where their piece of Parvo's ship lay like a decomposing animal carcass. The flames were out, but the coals emitted heat that they both could feel from a distance and provided enough light for them to see the form that lay on the ground.

Confounded, Colleen did a double-take at the sight of the new cano-sapien, even going so far as to rub her eyes.

Exile wasn't sure if she was that dumbfounded or was exaggerating like usual.

"Is that. . .?" she asked.

"_Da_."

"She's a. . ."

"Cano-sapien."

"But that can't be," Colleen insisted, her usual humor gone. "Parvo doesn't have the technology to make one."

"Maybe he does now. Isn't that why he adult-napped the professor?" Exile explained with a shrug. He was just as disturbed by this turn of events as Colleen apparently was.

"But how? He had the professor for only a few hours," Colleen said, sounding agitated. "Is that even enough time?"

"I don't know," Exile nearly shouted at the female. "All I know is plane wrecked, I was suppose to rescue human girl, but instead I rescue her. I don't know anything."

Both looked at each other as if it was the end of the world. Or worse, there were no more bacon-flavored treats. Things had gone very wrong. They didn't know what to do, and they both could see the panic in the other's eyes. Not only were they alone in a strange place with no clue where their leader, team mates or ship was, but they also were in company of a strange cano-sapien and had failed in saving the innocent humans they were sent to rescue.

"Worst mission ever," Colleen said deadly.

"Agreed," Exile added with a sigh.

Colleen hugged herself, her tail pressed close to her legs. "What do we do now?"

Exile looked at the collie in surprise considering that Colleen was second-in-command of the Road Rovers. Technically, it would be she who would lead since Hunter was absent. But he could tell that she was in shock over the ordeal and was in no condition to make any decisions.

Taking a deep breath, Exile made a quick decision and hoped it was the right one. "It is too dark to go looking for others. And we shouldn't move her right now," he said, pointing to the unconscious cano-sapien. "When it is day, we will go looking for our comrades."

Colleen's eyes perked up at that and her tail wagged once. "Do you think they're still alive?"

Exile was going to say he didn't know, but he had been saying that a lot. Plus, it wouldn't do Colleen any good for him to say it. Instead, he told her, "Maybe. We survived. They probably did, too."

A small smile issued from Colleen's lips, and she seemed much more calm. She went over to the strange cano-sapien and knelt down by her side. Carefully, she removed the sheet and started feeling the girl's arms and legs, checking her fur and her head. "She's suffering from shock. We need to keep her warm," Colleen reported, her voice much more calm. "There's a few burns, but nothing's broken."

"Can you wake her up?" Exile asked, kneeling down as well. "She can tell us more about her."

Colleen checked the girl's eyes, then shook her head. "She's under some kind of drug. She needs rest. Hopefully she'll be up in the morning." Still inspecting the girl, Colleen spotted something around her neck. It looked to be a tag on a ribbon, which was an unusual thing to use as a collar.

"Hallo, what's this?" Colleen asked, picking up the tag. "At least we can find out this girl's name."

Exile leaned forward curiously.

"'Shadow'. Well, hallo Shadow. I hope you don't mind if we bunk together tonight," Colleen told the unconscious girl. When she had finished inspecting the girl, she placed the sheet back over her.

Seeing that the two females were fine, Exile stood up and moved away from them.

"Where are you going?" Colleen asked with concern. She did not want to be left alone.

With a slow and deliberate movement, Exile pointed to the three bodies that lay a few yards away. By the look on Colleen's face, she hadn't notice them before. "I am going to bury them," he told her in a tired voice.

He did not need to explain his reasons. Colleen only nodded. "I'll help."

"_Niet._ Stay with girl. She will be scared if she wakes up," Exile told the collie before leaving the two alone.

The husky did not have a shovel, but he didn't need one. Even with his front paws altered a bit from the transdogmafier, they still moved the moist earth easily enough. He did so without speaking, going about his work somberly.

As he worked, his thoughts were mainly on the new female cano-sapien that Colleen was looking over. Her appearance was an enigma that his brain seemed to be determined to solve. With his hands busy, it left his brain to delve deeply into his memories. After a while, he remembered reading the file on Dr. Farid Saraaf for the mission. In the file was a picture of the short, Indian man. At his side, was a medium sized dog with fur coloring very similar to Shadow.

Could she be the professor's dog turned into a cano-sapien? That would explain her presence.

But what happened to the girl that was taken? The news said she was taken by dog monsters, but could that have been a coincidence? Was Parvo even involved in that?

But they had heard the girl scream in the ship? Or was that Shadow?

His thoughts drifted onto the screams that interrupted the battle on Parvo's ship. There was something different and eerie about the cries of pain. It didn't just go into the ears. Exile felt as if it was inside his brain, making him feel the pain the girl had been feeling. He could remember the reverberations inside of him. He felt pain all over his body as if a phantom had gone through him.

But that might not have been the girl. It could have been Shadow.

And if Parvo was finally able to copy the Master's work, then Shadow might have super powers much like the other Road Rovers. What else could explain the way the screams affected everyone?

Exile became hopeful considering that he may have solved some of the questions Shadow came with and was eager to share these theories with Colleen.

Digging the three graves took most of the night, and when he returned to the females, he found Colleen asleep next to Shadow, snuggling close much like a puppy would her litter mates. Tired, Exile did the same to Shadow's other side. The fact that he was sleeping so close to a female didn't bother him. It reminded him of his days as a sled dog, when he would curl up next to his team mates to stave off the cold. And the warmth of Shadow's fur against his helped him forget the memories of the burnt bodies he had helped put to rest.

* * *

Not far from where the husky and collie had crash landed, another piece of the bulldog shaped ship lay in ruins. This piece had broken off the first, taking with it the doberman and sheepdog. Lucky for them, there wasn't much flammable parts on their section of the aircraft, and thus were in a lot less danger after they had crashed.

The entire time that they had been falling, Blitz had remained unconscious due to the head wound Parvo gave him. He was lucky that Shag held onto him in a deadly grip the entire way down. It was also thanks to the sheepdog's quick thinking in moving deeper into the ship that had saved their lives.

When Blitz finally regained consciousness, he was cradled in a warm, furry hug. He was held so tight that he was in danger of suffocating from Shag's strength and the thickness of the white fur against his muzzle.

"Let go of me," Blitz shouted, pushing himself away from the larger Road Rover. Just as he moved, his head started to spin, and he lay back on the ground to prevent his head from hurting any more.

"Ra ra rararara?" Shag asked with concern, putting a paw on Blitz's shoulder.

"I'll be fine when the world stops spinning," Blitz replied, whimpering a little.

Shag looked around at the twisted metal all around them. A small fire was still burning in the corner, but that wasn't their biggest concern. "Rara wa ra ra rrrrrra."

Blitz frowned, his hands covering his eyes. "What do you mean the ship is going to collapse?" he asked, confused. Before he could ask what had happened since he blackened out, he heard the dreadful sound of metal scraping against more metal.

Before the doberman could scream with fright, white furry arms scooped him up and carried him urgently out of the way as a few thousand pounds of twisted, melted metal came crashing down. Shag continued to carry him until they were outside.

Hugging the sheep dog, Blitz heaped plenty of compliments and gratitude upon Shag until he realized that they were no longer inside the ship or flying.

"What exactly happened here? Where are we?" Blitz asked as he observed the jungle around them with wide, frightened eyes.

Shag only shrugged, watching the foliage warily.

As the two transformed dogs gazed into the strange jungle, they could hear sounds of the creatures all around them, hidden in the darkness. At the same time, they huddled closer together, their eyes darting from one part of the darkness to another. Shag was still holding Blitz bridal-style, but the doberman didn't seem to mind.

"It's kind of creepy out here, huh?" Blitz whispered.

"Uh-huh," Shag agreed.

Not far from where they were, some bushes started to rustle violently. Shag jumped, turning so Blitz was between him and the bushes.

Blitz gulped, his body starting to tremble. "That's probably just a little bunny or something not scary at all," he told Shag, not at all persuasive. "Nothing to be afraid of. Now stop using me as a shield and put me down."

Shag refused in a whimper.

Blitz protested louder, struggling to release himself from Shag's strong grip. "You're bigger. They're more scared of you."

Shag said something in dog language that sounded a lot like an insult before he began whimpering again as the bushes rustled faster.

Suddenly, three large somethings pushed away the bushes, coming into the dim light of the fire from the ship. Not able to contain their fear, Blitz screamed shrilly and Shag howled mournfully, cringing at the appearance of the dark forms.

"Do not move. You are now my prisoners," a sultry voice said smugly.

Realizing they were not being attacked by wild animals, Blitz and Shag slowly opened their eyes and saw that it was the Groomer with a laser gun in her hand and a cano-mutant on each side of her.

"Oh, thank goodness. It's the Groomer," Blitz said with relief, wiping his forehead of the sweat.

Shag sighed gratefully.

With bright red lips stuck out in a pout, the Groomer growled her frustration, walked up to the Road Rovers and waved the gun in front of their snouts. "Did you not hear me? You are my prisoners. If you do not do what I say, I will shoot," she shouted at them angrily, baring her teeth.

"Oh, _ja_, we'll do what you say," Blitz agreed, nodding his head rapidly. "Just as long as you protect us." Both he and Shag moved closer to the Groomer, hugging her legs as they cast worried glances back into the jungle.

The Groomer regarded the two shaking Road Rovers with annoyance, lowered her gun and placed a palm over her face. This was not how she imagined things would go.

Oh, how she really hated dogs sometimes. They were far too needy.

* * *

The third part of the ship, which contained the confused doctor and the General, fell into a small lake far from the other two pieces. Once crashed, the ship started filling with water and sinking to the bottom. The two men inside were forced to fight against the rushing water to escape the metal prison before they both drowned.

During the crash, Parvo had loosened his grip on Dr. Saraaf, which allowed him to swim out of Parvo's reach on the surface of the water. Parvo could see the professor moving quickly by the light of the moon. With the determination to catch his asset, Parvo went after the doctor. However, due to his previous form, Parvo wasn't the best of swimmers and could see that the professor would reach the shoreline far sooner than the General.

When Parvo finally made it out of the water (and how he hated being wet), he saw no sign of Saraaf or in which direction the doctor went. Cursing, Parvo set about preparing to wait out the night. He gathered some deadwood and started a fire near the lake's shore to help dry himself off.

Staring into the bright flames, Parvo stewed in his negative feelings, counting all the things that went wrong. The only thing that brought a smile to his lips was the thought that he had rid himself of one Road Rover; the image of Hunter falling out of the ship brought a soothing contentment over him that he forgot himself by curling up by the fire and purring himself to sleep.

* * *

Those lost in the jungle found the night particularly long; when the sun finally showed its face to the world, it was a relief to wake up at the crack of dawn. Even the humans in the village had found the night oppressing after the mysterious balls of fire fell from the sky.

Even though it wasn't a large village, there were still many men willing to venture into the vegetation to investigate the occurrence. Curiosity had won them over to begin an adventure. The one person who owned a truck in the village waited for twenty men to find a place to sit or hang onto the vehicle before starting down the rudimentary trails through the jungle.

Little did they know that the village's officer's information had made it very far along the grape vine. It would have surprised them that men in the United States Embassy were speaking of their village's name and had taken a great interest in their area.

* * *

Slowly he opened his eyes and saw a blue sky framed by green. For a moment, he thought he had woken up in heaven, but his body hurt too much. Wondering why he wasn't dead, Hunter recalled falling after being tricked by the devious Parvo. To save himself, the speedster had whirled his arms and legs in circles, using his super speed to create a wind tunnel that slowed his descent to the ground, but not enough. He had a vague memory of crashing into thick vegetation before blacking out.

Picking himself up, the Road Rover was able to get a good idea of his surroundings.

"Yep, I knew it," he said to the jungle definitely. "I'm lost."

But that never stopped him.

Lifting his nose into the air, he took a deep breath inward. Unlike the other Rovers, his genes were designed to pick up scents much better than other dog breeds. In a way, he had super-smelling powers.

On the air, he was able to pick up the scent of smoke. It was faint and very far away.

Careful moving through such thick foliage, Hunter was only able to run a quarter of his usual speed. Even at such a slow pace, the leaves and branches that he couldn't avoid stung as they hit him. Within minutes, he came to a lake. On the sandy shore, he found a pile of ash with a wisp of smoke rising from it. Near the water, he saw that some debris had washed ashore. He connected the dots, looking around the lake for any sign of life, calling out his teams' names.

His only answer was the sounds of the jungle.

Quickly he ran around the lake, looking for any other signs of survivors besides the ash pile. There weren't any, but he found some parts of the ship that might be useful: a first aid kit, a glass beaker, a pack, and a walkie talkie that didn't seem too wet. He put the first aid kit, beaker and walkie talkie into the pack, and returned to the dead fire. From there he followed the tracks of the one who made the fire. He wasn't sure who it was, the smells of the jungle masked their scent. But Hunter was sure that there was only one person he was following.

He tracked the trail for about a mile when it was joined by another trail. Two had survived. Hunter's hopes went up at that, but he still wasn't sure who they were. He continued following the tracks when suddenly one disappeared completely. Confused, Hunter went back and forth across the trail trying to figure out the puzzle, but it was as if one person had vanished.

Not knowing what else to do, he continued following the one trail that was left. It was a few more miles before he found who had made the tracks.

Or rather, they found him. With a large stick.

Hunter's super speed didn't help him as he was attacked and knocked over the head with a dead branch. With his head still hurting from his fall, the cano-sapien was slow to recover from the assault, which allowed his assailant to tie him up with some strong vines.

When the world stopped spinning for him, Hunter was able to look Dr. Saraaf squarely in the eye.

The professor loomed over him, still clutching the branch in his hands.

"You know, I much prefer playing fetch with those things," Hunter joked and winced in pain at the same time.

The doctor was startled to hear the dog creature speak and had to take a couple of steps back. Saraaf had been too occupied with his experiment in the ship for the most part and didn't think any of Parvo's creatures talked, which was why he was so startled. Then he remembered the creature that was after him on the college campus where all of this insanity started.

"What are you?" he asked, poking Hunter in the side.

"Oh, not there. I'm ticklish there," the golden retriever chuckled. Then he became serious. "Doctor, I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Hunter, and I'm a Road Rover."

The name sounded familiar; he probably heard it on the news or somewhere. The rumors around the name weren't important enough for him to pay much attention. He was a professor and had much more essential work than listening to tabloids and gossip.

"But what are you?" Saraaf repeated his question.

"My friends and I are an experiment of Professor Shepherd's. You should know him," Hunter said in a persuasive tone. He wagged his tail to show he was friendly.

"William Shepherd?" the human inquired.

Weirded out by hearing the Master's first name, Hunter nodded. "Yes. He sent us to rescue you."

The professor seemed to dwell on this information, but his face hardened. "That's not was Parvo told me. He said Shepherd sent you to capture me. Or kill me," he told Hunter suspiciously. But Saraaf couldn't trust Parvo anymore. He was sure that the General's story had lies in it, but he had a hard time knowing where the lies began and ended.

"That's not true. Parvo is the one who wanted to capture you. And he did," Hunter told Saraaf. "You can't trust anything that he said."

"And I can trust you?" Saraaf rounded on Hunter. "You shot at me on campus. You tried to kill me."

"No, that-that was a trick. I would never. . ," Hunter defended.

"Shut up!" Saraaf shouted, putting his hands to his head. "No more words. They're too confusing. And even if you are telling the truth, would you save me if you knew what I've done? Or do you know already?"

It was then that Hunter noticed that Dr. Saraaf was acting strange for a human. He was shaking a little and his eyes were darting around as if he expected something to pop out at him. His clothes and hair were a mess, and his eyes were blood-shot as if he hadn't slept. Had he traveled all night through the jungle?

Saraaf shook his head as if he were trying to clear it. "For all I know, both you and Parvo are evil. You both want to use me to do more terrible things," he shouted, looking stern. He tightened his grip on the branch that he hit the cano-sapien.

"My collar," Hunter quickly said, suddenly remembering the communication device. "It's a communicator. It'll get you in touch with Shepherd. He'll tell you." He was astounded that he didn't remember it earlier.

The professor looked at Hunter's neck and shook his head. "What are you talking about? There's no collar."

Hunter's heart dropped an inch. He recalled that Exile took the collar so to hack into Parvo's intercom and summon the Sky Rover. Today just wasn't his day.

Seeing the pack that Hunter had scavenged from the wreck, Saraaf pounced on it and pulled out the meager supplies, looking disappointed in the objects. "No food or water," he grumbled. However, he didn't complain about the first aid kit, which he used to treat his superficial wounds before standing up.

"Get up," he told Hunter, helping the cano-sapien onto his feet.

"Oh boy, a walk," Hunter said happily.

The human gave him a look as if he were trying to figure out if that was sarcasm or not. "We need to find some water. Do you know where any is?"

Hunter lifted up his sensitive nose to sniff. "A quarter of a mile to the east," he told Saraaf.

Within minutes, they found a small stream. Saraaf tied Hunter to a tree before collecting some water in the glass beaker and starting a fire from some dead wood. As he boiled the water over the fire, he took apart the single walkie-talkie.

After some prodding from Hunter, Saraaf finally told the cano-sapien all he remembered from the crash. From that, the Road Rover deduced that the ship fell into pieces, just as Exile predicted. He could only hope that his team mates weren't in the part that sunk into the lake.

"So what's for breakfast?" Hunter asked amiably. "I don't suppose we have something tasty to put in that water."

Saraaf looked up from his work to glance at the beaker. Seeing that the water had been boiling for a while, he removed it from the fire. "I'm guessing we're somewhere in Central America, by the look of the flora and fauna," he told Hunter as he went back to his project. "The water should be hot enough to kill all the parasites. I'll give you some once its cool."

Hunter smiled slightly at that. He could tell that Saraaf went with Parvo willingly back at the college, but that may have been a mistake. Someone who was planning on giving water to their prisoner couldn't be all that bad.

Once the water was cool enough, both of them sated their thirst, although the water was warm and had a swampy taste to it, but it did the job.

"What are you doing?" Hunter inquired, interested in Saraaf's abilities to tinker with the walkie-talkie.

"The walkie-talkie has a little water damage and some loose wires," Saraaf explained in a monotone, as if he were lecturing. "Hopefully the battery is still good, and then I can try to pick up a signal. There's bound to be another radio nearby that will hear us."

"That's amazing," Hunter complimented. "I'm impressed with your skill, professor."

"Let's see if this works before you congratulate me," Saraaf muttered as he shrugged off Hunter's words. "I'm good with genes and chemicals. Machinery isn't exactly my forte."

After an hour of tinkering with wires and small metal bits, Saraaf turned on the device. Some static came through the walkie-talkie speakers, but then turned into voices.

"Hello? Hello? Is someone there?"

"_¿Quién es este?"_ a voice demanded.

"My Spanish is a bit rusty," Saraaf muttered, trying to recall anything. Living in California, he picked up a few words here and there. "Uh. . ._Ayuda. El _aeroplane. . . uh. . . _muerto._ I'm lost in the jungle. _No hablo Español._ I'm an American. _Americano._ Does anyone there speak English?"

"_Inglés? Si. Un momento, por favor."_

_ "Gracias._" Saraaf waited by the radio, grateful that his jimmy rigging of the device worked. He felt relieved that there was a good chance of him being rescued swiftly, but then his eyes went to Hunter. He would have to leave the creature here. Not only did he not trust the canine, but he wasn't sure what his rescuers would think of Hunter.

But what of his experiment? What happened to the girl? Did she survive? Had the changes been sucessful? Saraaf felt an itch that he couldn't scratch remembering the experiment Parvo had pressured him to create. Once again, he looked at Hunter.

Thinking these questions, he realized that Hunter was exactly what he was trying to create. He was the perfect subject of a transformed dog, although he wasn't sure if Hunter had been canine or human before his change. Saraaf started imagining the studies he could do on the cano-sapien. It would be a shame to leave such a specimin behind.

Shaking his head, he realized how rediculous that would be. There wouldn't be any way he could smuggle the creature anywhere. It was too suspicious.

But that itch wouldn't go away, no matter how much will power he summoned. He had learned so much from General Parvo's notes and from experimenting on the girl. They fit so perfectly with his own research. It would take him only a few days to duplicate the proceduer, that is if it wasn't ethical or immoral. Those that regulated experimentation in the US would never codone it.

But there was always a short cut. That's what the General had taught him. The rules laid down for science should be ignored every once in a while.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the syringe that still contained blood, the blood of one of Parvo's monsters. It was no good now. It had turned a dark color that indicated most of the cells had died.

But there was another use for it.

* * *

At the sound of something crashing through the jungle, Parvo immediately took to the trees. It was fairly easy, and he barely made a sound. He felt much more confident higher up, and even more so when he saw who it was that had followed him.

Gritting his teeth and growling, Parvo watched as the Road Rover leader stopped in the middle of the trail he was following. It galled him that even pushing the indomitable Hunter out of an aircraft wasn't enough to kill the cur. Not only was the cano-sapien's presence enough to rattle his nerves, but the dog was also following the trail of Dr. Saraaf. It didn't take a genius to realize that Hunter would make it to the professor before Parvo.

The General watched as the Road Rover tried to track him, but Parvo's sudden escape up the tree confused him. After a few minutes, Hunter continued his tracking.

Grumbling, Parvo climbed back down. Everything was going wrong for him since the crash. With his quarry out of reach of him, he decided to turn his attention to finding Groomer. He hoped that she had survived as well as some of his loyal servants. He had use of them yet.

He turned to the south. He could remember the heading that the ship was going.

After a while, he found a trail that went north or south, which he found hopeful. A trail meant civilization. Wherever they were, he needed to get out of there quickly. He was unarmed and alone. It wouldn't take more than two Road Rovers to subdue him. It was too much for him to hope that Shepherd's other pets had died in the crash.

Walking south along the trail, he was surprised to hear the sound of a vehicle straining as it traveled along the trail. Within minutes, he saw a sight for his villian eyes: a truck of unknown brand and color, covered with humans, rolling down the trail with Spanish music blaring from the old speakers.

"_Deténgase. Hay alguien alli."_

General Parvo didn't miss a beat in talking to the group. "_Hola. Necesito un poco de ayuda."_

_ "__¿__Eres del fuego del cielo?"_

General Parvo chuckled to himself. Fire of the sky, indeed.

"_Si. Mi avión se choc__ó__."_

One of the men looked at him suspiciously. "¿_Americano?" _he asked the General.

Knowing of the trouble some of the countries had with the US recently, Parvo decided to play it safe.

"_No. No. Soy de Canad__á__,_" he reassured them.

Looking relieved, the men smiled and invited him into the truck.

"_Mis amigos se pierden_," he told the hispanics. _"¿Me ayudan a encuentrolos?"_

_ "Si. Si," _they reassured him, and continued down the trail.

Parvo, from his spot in the bed of the truck, smiled. Humans. So trusting and easy to manipulate.

* * *

(Author's Notes: The lines where I use Spanish, I have my husband to thank. He spent some time in Guatemala and is also a Spanish teacher, thus was very useful in helping me get the Spanish right since I can't speak the language. I hope that you can get the gist of what they're saying, not that it's important. If you are curious, using Google Translate can help.

For those who do speak Spanish, you will notice that Dr. Saraaf doesn't speak it very well, either. I purposefully made errors in his "Spanglish."

As for the fear of Americans, that is completely real in the time frame that the Road Rovers take place in. My husband was in Guatemala almost a decade ago, and he told me of how the people in the villages were afraid of being attacked by Americans because it had happened before. Mercenaries were often employed to go into the smaller Southern countries to take care of drug cartels and the like. I have a neighbor who used to be a mercenary and was hired to do just that.

Also, the low tech in the village is quite real in the third world countries like Guatemala where there will only be a few vehicles and phones. In my own experience, I volunteered to go down to Peru with a service group where we went to small villages up in the mountains. We put in a bathroom behind the school, which was the only toilet the entire village had.)


End file.
